Icharus_ARC Series

by Renee Sebastian

  She nodded her head and even though she did not suit up, we left the ship, following closely on Kull’s heels. As we entered the building, the rad siren went off. “It will be on continuously now as the planet approaches Aka,” Kull told us as we ran through an empty hanger. I hoped we reached his ship soon. The suit could only protect so much.

  “I can’t believe that you aren’t you worried about the radiation,” I told him.

  "The entire building is protected, but you're right. There will come a point when even its barriers will fail, and the radiation will permeate everything."

  We took a corridor located in the corner of the hanger that had windows illuminating our way. The eerie yellow-orange light made the opposing wall glow like we were in the interior of a volcano. After a few more tigs, we stopped outside a metal door.

  “It is on the other side of this door. Stay here so I can disable the security system. It is not tuned to your biorhythms and will kill you on site.” He then opened the door and shut it so quickly that I could not peek around him to peer into the next room.

  “Is he telling the truth, Kore?” Usually, it was easy for me to tell, but Kull was more wily than most.

  “He is being evasive, but is not outright lying,” she replied.

  “How can you tell?”

  “His speech patterns; I am very familiar with them.”

  “How close were the two of you?”

  “In the beginning, I did not see him every dag, but it became more apparent that the other subjects were inferior or dying. His visits became a regular ritual. Most times it would be unusual to not see him every six oras.”

  “How did he test you?”

  “His predecessor had completed the physical trials on me, so he delved more into the mental capacities.”

  “Then he knows that we’ll know if he is being evasive,” I said.

  “Yes, but he is always evasive. It is just the degree of how much.” I took the chance and grabbed the handle of the door. “What if he is telling the truth?” Kore whispered.

  “I’m not getting out of this alive, Kore.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Now or later, makes little difference to me, but you might be able to get out alive.” I turned the handle and discovered Kull standing on the other side.

  “The ship is ready, come.”

  We entered a vast hanger, and true to his word, there was a vessel suitable for deep space travel waiting for us. "We'll need to initiate the launch protocol and input the coordinates, but after that, we should be able to have the autopilot do the rest."

  “Where are we going?” I followed him into the ship, with Kore fast on my heels.

  “Anywhere but here.”

  I followed him into the cockpit, and he took the co-pilot seat. "Are your intentions for me to fly this ship?"

  “No, her.” Kore slipped around me and took a seat.

  “You know how to fly this ship?”

  “It does not appear much different than the other.” She opened up the panel access and then skimmed through the schematics.

  I sat down in a spare chair and opened up the system check functions, making sure the greenhouse, air exchange, and sanitation systems were up and running. After discovering a dormant arboretum, I decided that it would have to be reseeded after we took care of the third section’s non-functioning air exchange.

  “How long before we are out of the solar system?”

  Her answer was to open the exit door above us, and then up we went. It did not last long, however, as our way was blocked by a ship that was at least twenty times the size of ours. I studied the undercarriage of it, but could only conclude that it was not anything I had ever seen before now.

  Kore said, “It is from the ARC.”

  I lifted my plazgun and pointed it at Kull. “What games are you playing Councilman?”

  He sneered at me and said, “If you haven’t noticed there is no longer a Council. I did not call them here.”

  “I do not believe he did,” Kore whispered.

  “What do you mean?” I asked as I lowered my gun.

  She stared at me. “Coming back here was a mistake, but so was trying to leave.”

  “But we can’t stay here,” I told her.

  “Trying to escape has only brought us closer to the sun, Jett. I was not meant to live. I am an anomaly,” she said more to herself than to either of us.

  I grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard. “You are smarter than the rest of us, how do we get out of here? Think!”

  She stared at me for a moment, hardly seeing me it seemed, and then she said, “I know how.”

  Over the comm panel, we heard, "You have a choice: bring her out, or we'll come in after her." It crackled off and then clicked back on again, "And it matters little to us now whether she lives or not." Which I knew to be a lie since they could have just blown us up in the hole.

  “We go up.”

  “The first smart thing she’s ever said,” Kull said as he stood up and walked away, headed back to the corridor.

  I whispered, “Is he in on it?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “What do you have planned?”

  “The only choice left to us.” She stood and walked after him.

  “Which is what?”

  “The right one.” Then she too disappeared. I did the only thing left for me to do, which was to follow her.

  • ѻ ● Ѻ • ○ ☼

  We walked back out on the deck. Fortunately, the sirens were off. Maybe it meant the radiation had died down, or perhaps they were just malfunctioning. Regardless, our time on the planet had reached its end. We were escorted by men, with guns more advanced than my own, to where the ARC vessel hovered above the ground. They did not even attempt to take my weapons, so confident were they in their technology.

  Then Kore and I systematically had the back of our knees kicked out, and we were forced to the ground. That kuthic Kull was looking smug, standing erect, while awaiting whoever had just exited the ARC vessel. A boot was slammed into the base of my spine, and when I looked up, I saw that Kore matched my position. Why was she not fighting back? I knew she could take them all if she wanted.

  Movement caught my attention, and I focused on the Overseer ship before us. For a moment, I did not recognize the woman who approached us in long robes of purple, but as she drew closer, I knew her for the Overseer who had appeared on the recordings from what seemed forever ago. She was flanked by more guards than I had ever seen around anyone. This only accentuated the importance of Kore if they were willing to send someone of her rank here, but how valuable could this woman be, if she was allowed to leave the ARC? Maybe she was not an Overseer at all, but merely one of their soldiers. Maybe she was even working against the Overseers. Regardless, there was a sheen to her eyes when they locked onto Kore that could not be mistaken as anything other than satisfied lust.

  Renewed pressure on my spine ended my speculations as pain shot up my back. Kull took several steps forward and greeted the woman. “Paleé, what a pleasure it is to meet you in person.”

  “Hold him.” Two guards each took an arm of his and pinned him in place. He did not look pleased with his current state of affairs.

  Once she finally reached where Kore was bent down onto her knees, she grabbed her hair, pulling her head up to look her in the eye. “So you are what all this fuss is about?” Kore did not reply. “Stand them up.” We were pulled up into a standing position. “Now let me have a good look at what has been causing all this destruction.”

  “I thought you were the ones who pushed the planet?” I asked and was struck in the head with something. I doubled over in pain, but she said, “Up now, none of that.”

  I was brought up by my elbows before I found my footing again. “The radiation is turning your face red,” I spat out.

  “Nothing a pill won’t fix in a tig, but the reason why you are still standing here is because I wanted to ask you why you did not carry out your direct order and bring he
r in when you had the chance?”

  “Or kill her,” I added.

  "That certainly would have been the easier method of removing the problem. Now, look at your planet, on its way to its end."

  “You made her. She’s your problem,” I told her.

  “He could not have killed me,” Kore added.

  “Ah, she speaks, and why is that?”

  "He has feelings; he is human." Implying she was not? Suggesting that was what made humans better than Ouder or the Council? I did feel strong emotions when it came to her. Was it a protective notion or something more akin to desire? I was no longer sure how to describe my feelings for her. There just was not a word in this world to describe how I felt.

  “He could not have captured me either, just as you cannot, unless I allowed it.”

  “That remains to be seen Ouder.” She said it like it was a bad taste in her mouth. “Why shouldn’t I just leave and allow you to burn up in the atmosphere?” The Overseer replied.

  "I am still a bargaining chip for you. I suspect that the Ouders have threatened your personal annihilation if you do not turn me over to them."

  The Overseer looked furious and then she turned around and started walking towards the ship. “Bring her and kill both the males.”

  I was seized at the same time as Kull's throat was slit, hot blood spurting to the ground. Once he fell to the ground, his knees slapped into his own blood, making a smacking sound, and his face was smothered with Aka’s red light and his blood.

  They moved to grab Kore, but somehow, quicker than I could follow, she tore the plazgun out of the hand of the guard holding her while breaking his hold on her too. She killed all the guards with precision strikes to their head, and then she aimed it directly at the Overseer Paleé.

  Paleé slowly clapped her hands and said, “Bravo on your little show, but why stop there. I am expendable too.”

  “I know that you are not the leader of your ship. Those people are still aboard the ship, observing how I behave in this situation, studying me, determining if I am worth the price of defying the Ouder or not. Am I the bigger threat when compared to the Ouder? Am I the only weapon that you can use against them?”

  Paleé stared at her, neither confirming nor denying Kore’s theory.

  "You are a pawn in their game too," Kore told her. "If you die, they will send more people to contain me with whatever technology they think will work."

  “Then why don’t you just go ahead and kill me?”

  “They have come,” Kore replied.

  Paleé and I exchanged looks; hers was as if to ask if Kore was mentally unbalanced, while mine was more of a desperate, but prepared for anything look, because Kore was the only one who had a clue as to what was about to happen. Then, as if it had been there the entire time, clouds parted overhead and a ship at least ten times the size of the Overseer's ship hovered above it. As it descended upon the smaller ship, it became evident that it intended to squash it like one might do unto an insect that had just landed on your food. As the Overseer's engines roared into overdrive, we all knew the smaller ship had no chance of escaping.

  “And you are out of time.”

  Chapter 22

  “I’m your only escape now,” Paleé told us.

  Kore lifted up her gun that she had taken from one of the dead guards, and then she plazzed the frack out of her. Before the Overseer's lifeless body hit the ground, Kore began running for the exit off the roof. I tore after her, yelling, “Kull’s ship is too slow to outrun the aliens!”

  "I know that!" Suddenly the air shimmered, and something shook the building. I glanced left and right and saw smaller buildings crumble to the ground around us.

  "That was a warning!" I called over to her. She entered the building and waited for me. I met her, and then she shut the door behind me.

  “I know,” she replied. “Kull’s vessel has dockings for four scouting ships.”

  “Those aren’t meant for deep space travel.”

  “Will they get us to Kahel?”

  I thought on it for a moment. “We’ll have to stop at Sepia to refuel, then maybe.”

  “Good enough.”

  “But we can’t outrun the Ouder.”

  We had finally made it to the bay, and we began circling Kull’s transport ship looking for the smaller, attached science vessels. "You are not going to have to. I will. We will take two vessels. I will lead them away, and then you will escape."

  “Even if I agreed with abandoning you, which I don’t, what makes think that you can outrun the Ouder? We have no idea what kind of technology they have. They might be able to simply put a net over our ships us and pull us in.”

  "Not until we escape this planet's gravity. Our smaller ships will be able to maneuver more easily against the pull of the planet than their larger vessel will be."

  “Haven’t you been listening? We don’t know what their technology can do. They probably have smaller ships on board too.”

  She ignored me and asked, “There are two vessels here, and we need to wake them up. Also, where are the exit doors? We will need to open them up.”

  I sighed and resigned myself to the fact that she was not going to change her mind. In all likelihood, she planned on being captured to ensure my escape, but nothing was guaranteed anymore, not our safety, not my sound judgment, or, most of all, my feelings. I pointed to where the control panel should have been on the wall to open the bay. She ran over to it; and with a speed that I could not match, she inputted the required information to open it. She disappeared into its inky blackness. I was helpless to do anything other than follow her.

  We next sped along the serpentine passages of Kull’s ship to its control room. We needed to activate the smaller ships from it. She turned on the control panel.

  “They are going to crush the building,” she informed me.

  “Not until they have you.” I watched as her fingers raced through the buttons, inputting impossible sequences of codes. “There is a manual lever that must be opened from inside each of the ships before each vehicle can be initiated into the last string of array cycles for take-off. Please go and release them now.”

  I ran through the corridors once again and was thankful the ship was not bigger than it was. After finding the first smaller vessel and sliding the release bar, I raced to the other side of the ship, but before I reached it, the building rocked violently, and I fell down, hitting my head against the metal wall. I was not sure how long I was out, but I heard Kore calling out to me.

  “The Ouder are here! Hurry Jett!”

  I stumbled my way to the other ship and finally released its bar. Moments later, I heard their engines cycling up and as if on cue, the doors blocking our exit opened up in front of us. I heard Kore's steps clicking through the bay towards me at an incredible clip, competing for my attention with the sound of crunching metal around us as the infrastructure began its compression into Icharus.

  “They are here! I’m going to take that ship, you take the one you are at, Jett. Follow the plan!”

  Plan? Meeting at the fueling station on Sepia qualified as a plan? The crushing noise expanded and then there was an implosion of plazglass, and I jumped into the pit of the ship. After I released the last of its tethers, I headed up into the opening above. Then I heard my comm panel click on. Kore said, "We opened the exit doors as a decoy, Jett. Follow me out the hole I am about to create and then go the opposite direction as me. I will not be able to say anything else until we rendezvous.”

  “What if you don’t make it?” I whispered.

  “Escape this system, Jett. It is doomed.”

  Rather than take the now open docking platform out through the ceiling, she used the research lasers to shoot a hole into the exterior wall of the building. Grinding noises filled the cavity. Whether she intentionally or accidentally hit a strategic support beam, the entire roof began folding itself inward, but it did not matter, we were finally out through the hole into the light of dag.

/>   Once freed of the building, I glanced back to see the fate of the ARC vessel and could only see the Ouder ship resting on a pillow of flames erupting from the collapsing building. The ARC vessel must have been crushed and vaporized. It did not take long though for the Ouder to spot us and shift their vessel's trajectory, so it veered toward us, mirroring our moves. Kore veered right, and I turned left. If there was any doubt as to whether they could tell which ship was manned by Kore, it was quickly dispelled. They immediately took flight after her.

  After I put some distance between us, I backtracked and trailed their ship. I speculated that it could have overtaken her ship easily enough, but instead it merely kept pace with her.

  For not having any flight training, she was evading their occasional advance on her adeptly, while they completely ignored me. We flew past the city into the vast ice plains that were cracking and flooding before my eyes, as a side of the planet that had never seen the light from Aka, was now flooded with its radiation and heat.

  I flipped through channels on the comm panel, looking to see if they were attempting to contact her. Would she allow it?

  I found a channel with a message that sounded pre-recorded, "…no harm. We mean you no harm, stop and submit." Someone should have told them that the word submit does not sit well in human bellies. "We do not want to hurt you. We are your friends." Someone should have also told them that when someone says they are your friends, when you do not know them, it sets off all kinds of red flags as well.

  Kore did not respond to their calls but kept soaring upwards. The larger ship drew closer to hers. It was time to take action. I accelerated to the max capacity that my small ship could muster, not bothering to consider if the increased fuel consumption might impact whether or not I could make it to the refueling station. I also did not weigh the fact that they might shoot me down as well. All I could think of was that Kore was not going to make it unless some action was taken.