by David Edward
Garneri saw the connection and yelled, “Do it, Odessa! Quickly! It is the only way!”
“B99, go over to the other dais,” Odessa said to the combat android slowly and quietly. She knew what this meant.
The android walked over.
One of the men quickly handed him the receiving connector. He took it and placed it on his chest.
Someone in the crowd yelled, “Okay, everyone! Happy feelings! Everything is wonderful! Feel it!”
Odessa could feel the goodwill from the hundreds of Machians.
One of the men inserted the yellow crystal into the control panel.
Almost instantly, a bright white aura surrounded Logan and then drifted over to the android, settling over it and disappearing into it.
Logan's body fell away.
Completely dead, the wound had defeated the guardian.
Odessa stared at the combat android, waiting, and praying for it to move.
Everyone was silent and also watching, waiting for the same thing.
Finally, it did.
It held up its hands and looked at them. Looked around the room. Looked over at Odessa.
“Logan,” she said, looking at what had been B99 just a few moments ago.
“Logan,” the android repeated.
Then, “Odessa?”
The entire room exhaled at nearly the same time.
The gamble had worked.
Aftermath
It had taken some time to get all the Machians out safely from the facility. The only way out was up the tall elevator shaft, and only a few could be carried up the shaft at a time.
As Logan’s consciousness grappled with its new host, he was able to start to reform his lucidity and concept of self. Odessa found enough equipment in the hanger to repair Logan's peer-to-peer communications array.
He was able to contact E7 and the rest of the combat androids. They returned to the battlefield to secure it and assist with the rescue.
Once all the Machians were taken back to the old city, and anything of value was taken from the remains of the facility, they placed detonation charges everywhere.
When everyone was safely out, Odessa fired the charges, and the entire mountain area was destroyed. The oldtech machine and everything else in the area that had been constructed, both oldtech and newtech alike, were now destroyed.
E7’s task during the battle had been to go to as many discovered ships as feasible and move everything they possibly could into the storage areas in the old city.
This included etherreals, weapons, supplies, hubs, tech, and any ships that could be quickly made operable enough to fly the short distance.
Odessa now had no choice but to be clan prime.
It was dawning on her that none of their clan could ever reconnect to the ether, not until more was known about the betrayal. Maybe not even after that. They may need to destroy the ether to fix civilization.
She knew what they had to do.
With the hundreds of Machian’s rescued, she would have plenty of doers. Once everyone recovered, they could develop their own rules for ascension. There would be some worthwhile guardians in the group.
They had to destroy the other facilities on this planet, unravel the mystery of their betrayal, and ultimately fix the broken system that the cogitate circle had become.
But mostly, she wanted the same thing that Logan wanted: to bring truth back to the tellers.
The future was uncertain, and the challenges ahead would be difficult.
As Odessa looked up into the clear blue sky, she thought about everything that had happened in such a short amount of time. She had worried she did not have the temperament for being clan leader. She did not like dealing with the small things, the details. She found bureaucracy trite.
But she had just saved her clan. Saved her brother.
She knew she needed to save this world next, then the luminary circle itself.
No one else could do it. It had already meant giving up everything.
But she was not doing this for sacrifice.
She was doing it for revenge.
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The end of Book One.
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To be continued in the next book of the Earth 50,000 BC series: War Machine, by D. Edward.
Releasing July 2021.
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Please consider leaving a review of this book. Reviews allow other readers to discover the book, which can help ensure many more to come.
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Please also consider pre-ordering the next two books in the series: Book 2 War Machine, and Book 3 Oldtech.
Logan and Odessa would very much appreciate your support!
Dictionary
Ether - The technology that monitors and guides everything in the luminary circle
Fabric - The technology used to connect to the ether
Luminary - Sun
Luminary circle - Solar system
Cycle - The amount of time it takes a body in the luminary to rotate around its gravitational anchor
Micro cycle - A smaller unit of measure somewhere between what we call seconds and minutes
Etherreal - A component of the ether that exists in the real world. This is used exclusively to identify a cybernetic being built fully integrated into the ether.
Etherreal series - The model of the etherreal
Etherholo - A projection of a real person or android in the alterreal
Alterreal - An environment created entirely in the ether, alternate reality
Cogitate circle - The overarching administrative government of the entire luminary circle
Datagram - A self-contained ether database, storage, and network singularity
Codegram - A self-contained set of operating instructions
Inload - Accept input
Crossload - To process a datagram or other set of inloads
Outload - Send output
Oldtech - Technology leftover from a prior civilization
First cycle - The time period identified with the prior civilization
Baytor - Moon with heavy gravity orbiting TTayo, one of the five moons of civilization
Baytorian - A person from Baytor
Alethia – Third planet from the luminary, blue planet, 71% water
Machi – Small moon orbiting TTayo, one of the five moons of civilization
Machian - A person from Machi
Fovis – Dominant moon orbiting TTayo, one of the five moons of civilization
Fovian - A person from Fovis
TTayo – Large ice planet that the five moons of civilization orbit
Measure - A standard unit of distance or weight