Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure

by Brandon Ellis

  And, oh yeah, the Ancient Coptic glyphs stated the sphere could steer the Ark of the Concordant’s power more precisely. Jonas and Jozi wanted him to use the Ark to kill all the Dunrakee on Earth.

  Maybe it was a good plan and the one only Ozzy could pull off since he was of the bloodline that could operate the Ark. Hell, better to kill a genocidal race off the face of the galaxy instead of them wiping out Ozzy’s race. Plus, Ozzy knew he wasn’t the greatest person born in the Universe, so finally sticking up for every human’s survival rather than his own may be the best thing to do.

  He touched the room’s control panel.

  “I’m heading to a deep crater,” said Zeld. “And, Ozzy, I’m watching you on the holovid. Don’t open that door. You’ll be sucked into space.”

  Ozzy backed away and turned. There was a problem with Zeld’s statement. A hole in the craft meant the graviton shields didn’t hold, but they were working fine when he was out there in the pod.

  Maybe they had malfunctioned for a millisecond.

  He grunted and shook his head. He didn’t know. He slammed his fist into the wall, then bent over, placing his hands on his knees and looking at his feet, wanting to cry. As usual, this was all his fault. “Are you sure, Zeld?”

  There was a long pause. “Yes, I’m positive.” He could hear the amusement in her voice. “You open that door and you’ll be pulled out into the vacuum of space.”

  Ozzy stood erect. “Why in Mars dung do you think this is funny?” His voice cracked. The thought of Jozi’s death grabbed his heart and squeezed it.

  He pushed the pain away. This was business. He was getting paid a shit-ton of auric credits to do this job, and emotions weren’t part of the deal.

  “It’s cute. You know, your attachment to her. She was pretty and all, but I don’t think she was your type.”

  “You son of a Phoebos.” Rage filled Ozzy’s belly, and his temple throbbed. He marched down the hall toward the bridge.

  A pounding sound came from behind him. He stopped and listened.

  Laughter echoed over the intercom. “Don’t worry about that, Ozzy,” said Zeld. “Just keep walking your nice ass over to me where it belongs.”

  Another pound.

  Ozzy turned. It was coming from the port side weapons room.

  No. It couldn’t be her.

  Another pound.

  He rushed to the door.

  “Don’t do it, Ozzy,” said Zeld. “It’s not her. It’s a strap inside the room slapping back and forth. Anyway, there’s no way Jozi could survive out there because of the vacuum freeze she is probably experiencing.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “Help me, Zeld. Jozi may be hanging on for dear life. She’s probably groping around because she can’t open her eyes as they’d freeze out there and she can stay alive for a few minutes if pushes out her breath so the oxygen doesn’t burn her from the inside out. So, dammit, help me get her.”

  “Sorry, Ozzy. I’m not that dumb to help you or her.”

  Screw Zeld.

  He eyed a handhold next to the door’s panel. He’d have to grip onto it for dear life, but he needed to do this with or without Zeld’s help.

  He wrapped his fingers around the grip tightly.

  Another pound echoed in the corridor.

  “I’m coming, Jozi.” She probably couldn’t hear him in space, but if there were the slightest chance she could, it would be good to provide her with some comfort.

  He pressed the code into the control panel, hovering his finger over the last digit. “Oh boy,” he whispered to himself. “I either save her or we are both doomed to float in space.”

  He tapped the button and held on.

  The door gyrated open.

  Ozzy frowned. “What the Mars?”

  Jozi was standing there with sweat trickling down her temple and forehead, her black hair wet. A gush of warmth blew through the doorway.

  He yanked her forward and wrapped his arms around her. He glanced into the weapons room.

  It was untouched. There wasn’t a gaping hole. Straps weren’t slapping the door, and the vacuum of space wasn’t trying to suck him out of the ship.

  He hugged her harder, relieved as hell she was alive. “Are you okay?”

  Jozi pushed away, giving him an odd stare. “I’m fine. I mean, come on, Ozzy, that was a close call and all, but we’ve had many of those since we’ve known each other.”

  Ozzy narrowed his eyes. “I was informed by our pilot that there was a gaping hole in that room and your pod was gone.”

  Jozi’s eyes about bugged out of her head. “That bitch! All that was wrong was my com line went offline, and I couldn’t get the door to open.”

  A chuckle went through the intercom. “I’m sorry. Just a little joke. I turned off all power to that room after you pulled your pod inside.”

  Ozzy’s face flushed red. “Not funny, Zeld.” He turned and walked toward the bridge. He wanted to pound her across the face, but being a man, he would let Jozi do it for him.

  The bridge door was already open when he stormed through the entryway with Jozi close on his heels.

  “What in Mars-nation are you—”

  Ozzy cut himself off. Zeld had Eagle’s outside lights shining on a blown-out installation the size of a warehouse.

  They were on the dark side of the moon and flying slowly into a crater.

  “It’s still here,” said Ozzy. “I can’t believe it’s open.” No human had been able to open it in the past, and he doubted any Dunrakee could have opened it now either.

  Jozi stepped forward and leaned against the helm’s chair. “What is it?”

  Zeld let out a loud breath, clearly as dumbfounded as Ozzy. “It’s Enki’s tomb, discovered in 2032. No archaeologist has ever been inside, and no matter how many times we humans tried to break that structure open, we couldn’t put a dent in it. And here it is like a beacon of light. It’s open and asking us to fly inside and take its treasures.”

  4

  Earth • Earth’s Moon

  “Turn off the lights,” demanded Ozzy. “And it’s not treasure we’re taking. There is supposed to be a portal inside this giant structure that leads to a place on Earth.”

  Jozi sat at the nav station. “Yes, turn off the lights.” She glared at the radar. “Indigo is active, but I’m picking up several inbound Dunrakee craft from Earth. They’ll be here in five minutes.”

  Zeld was too enamored with the warehouse-sized tomb to say anything let alone follow orders.

  “Zeld,” hollered Ozzy.

  Zeld’s mouth opened, but she nodded her head without saying a word. She steered the Eagle forward, moving it toward a jagged opening.

  “Turn off those lights,” bellowed Ozzy.

  “I can’t. I need them to steer.”

  She flew onward, navigating the ship’s bow slowly through the cracked opening. Frozen dust that covered the roof’s surface cascaded off the sides like a waterfall.

  Ozzy bounced a curled knuckle against his lips. If the dust kept moving, it’d be a dead giveaway to the Dunrakee that Ozzy and his crew were hiding inside the tomb.

  Ozzy sat at the captain’s chair and leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm and biting his fingernail. “Steady.”

  Zeld turned on the bow thrusters. They spat out a reddish-orange fire and slowed the Eagle. The stern slipped past the opening, and Zeld turned the ship one hundred and eighty degrees, setting the craft down on a flat area tucked away from the opening. She turned off the lights. “I’m a master pilot, Ozzy.”

  She was right. Ozzy was impressed. Not too many pilots could be that smooth moving through such a tight window. In fact, if he were piloting around such cramped corners, he’d be acting cool but crapping his pants at the same time.

  Zeld turned off most of the ship’s power, keeping enough to run the craft’s vitals. The Eagle went silent. Zeld put her finger to her lips. “Shh.”

  “One more minute and they are on top of us,” whispered Jozi.


  The Dunrakee were flying low causing the ground to vibrate. With that much movement, the craft had to be huge.

  The group watched through the bridge’s window, which usually held the display screen, but with the screen off and most of the power with it, the window was all they had for vision.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Jozi said in a hushed tone.

  More silence followed.

  A light pierced the roof’s opening, hitting the floor and showing something they strangely and obviously missed when they had entered: Sarcophaguses, squared rock structures, and rock orbs littered the room.

  The walls were made from rock blocks but were cut perfectly, much like the ones Ozzy had seen that made up the bulk of the Pyramids of Giza and Machu Picchu.

  “Is that weird Indigo rock working, Ozzy?” Zeld asked in a soft voice.

  Ozzy nodded. Indigo was hooked up and never turned off. It seemed to have an unlimited power supply. Another technology Ozzy knew nothing about or cared to learn.

  A brighter light pushed through the opening, sweeping across the ground.

  The color changed from white to yellow, and red grid lines lit the floor.

  “They’re taking readings,” said Jozi, her hand over her mouth to not be too loud. “They may detect us.”

  “If so, we go back into the weapons room and get inside the pods.”

  Ozzy’s stomach fell. If he survived this trip, he would kick Jonas’s ass. If he didn’t, he’d wait around and kick the crime lord’s ass in the afterlife.

  Zeld put her hand up. “Wait.” She pointed. “They’re leaving.”

  The lights moved and pulled away, dimming and widening until the ships rotated, and the lights flashed off.

  The ground shook, and the rumbling slowly diminished the farther away the ships flew.

  Ozzy stood. “Now where’s that mythological portal to Earth? If it exists, we have to find it. If it doesn’t, then we have to figure out how to get to Earth without being detected again.”

  The problem was they had been detected and would probably have Dunrakee ships flying all over the place looking for them.

  But, according to Jozi, he had to do right for humanity. He rolled his eyes. “Jozi, you’ve put me in a nearly impossible situation.”

  5

  Earth • Earth’s Moon

  Zeld dashed to the helmet rack at the back of the bridge. She slipped one on and clipped it to her jumpsuit. She grabbed a pair of gloves and slid those on as well.

  “What are you doing?” asked Jozi.

  “She’s going to explore.” Ozzy was an archaeologist like Zeld, and he figured she had a similar passion for discovering artifacts. She probably couldn’t wait to locate and discover new information she could store away in her brain.

  In a way, this passion was a curse. It grabbed hold of Ozzy many times and wouldn’t let go.

  He had the pull to explore right now too, but looking for the portal would be the best use of his time. Finishing the mission by finding the crystal sphere and using it to harness the Ark’s power to commit all-out genocide was something he wanted to complete.

  In a sense, he’d be saving humanity again. Hell, the Dunrakee deserved nothing less than to be blown out of this solar system.

  Zeld turned to Ozzy. “You coming, handsome?”

  Ozzy tightened up. Her sensual voice had a smoothness to it that drew Ozzy in, but Ozzy wanted nothing to do with her.

  He shrugged. “I’m ready, but I’m searching for the portal, not some long-lost treasure.”

  Zeld puffed out her lower lip, giving him a sad puppy-dog look. “Not even a teensy, tiny bit?”

  “No. You do your thing, and I’ll do mine. Just stay out of my way.”

  Maybe she’d get lost and be out of his way for the rest of the trip.

  “Jozi,” said Ozzy. “Put on your gloves and helmet.”

  She shook her head. “I’m staying here.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “I need you.”

  She tapped on the energy array holopad attached to her console, a device Jonas had installed on the Eagle to detect crystalline energy. “I’ll see if I can detect intense energy signatures on Earth from here. The bigger the energy signature, the more likely I’m looking at the crystal sphere. Plus, you need me to stay in the craft in case the Dunrakee return.”

  “Alright. I’ll be back in a few.”

  Ozzy and Zeld walked out of the bridge and hurried down the corridor into the Eagle’s lobby where the ramp was located.

  “Jozi,” he said over his com line. “Shut the door to keep the oxygen in the bridge with you. You understand?”

  “I’m not a dummy, Ozzy.”

  Ozzy sidestepped over to the crate where he stored the Ark and slapped the panel. The Eagle vibrated, and the ramp hissed. Steam shot out from the seams, and the ramp opened, clanking when it hit the ground.

  Ozzy turned on his helmet lights. Zeld did the same.

  Ozzy’s boots pinged down the ramp as he passed the ship’s gravity field. The gravity changed, and Ozzy felt the buoyant moon atmosphere at every bouncing step until his feet met the rocky earth.

  A dark fog swirled a few inches above the ground. Zeld was by his side and glanced up at the Eagle’s underbelly, shining her lights on the polished exterior.

  “Up ahead,” said Ozzy, moving toward a sarcophagus—one of many in the large structure. “It’s not been opened.” He stopped and shined his light through the immense structure surrounding them. None of the sarcophaguses or the rock-like crates were opened, or anything else for that matter.

  It was as if the Dunrakee blasted open the warehouse and were bored with what they saw and moved on.

  They obviously didn’t have a thing for mystery; something for which humans were well known. Instead, the Dunrakee had a thing for galactic genocide, control, and power.

  He stepped forward, reaching the closest sarcophagus. A black singe mark covered the lid. “Well, they actually tried to blast through it. Their attempts got them nowhere.”

  He swiped his hand over the mark—a circle lit up in blues, golds, and purples. It was outlined in hieroglyphs.

  Zeld put her hands on the edge of the lid and leaned forward, studying the writing. “It’s early Sumerian. It says it’s the tomb.”

  Ozzy jerked his head back. “Enki’s tomb?”

  “You bet your nice and sexy ass it is.” Zeld ran her finger along a few glyphs. “Look.”

  Ozzy read the glyphs and couldn’t help but smile. It was indeed Enki’s tomb.

  In Ozzy’s studies, he knew Enki was an ancient Sumerian God and brother of Enlil. They were part of a visiting alien race that came to Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. Their race was the Anunnaki. They used humans to mine gold. The brothers disagreed on many things and eventually fought over Earth.

  Ultimately, Enlil wanted to destroy humans, and Enki wanted to keep them alive.

  Enki got his way.

  “Read that,” said Zeld. “I’m not as good with Sumerian as you are.”

  Ozzy bent forward, getting a closer look. “It says Enki used the moon as a getaway or an escape from the dramas of his alien race when times were bad. When he died, he was buried here.”

  Zeld nodded. “So there is a portal somewhere in here. I’m assuming that’s how Enki went back and forth to the moon.”

  “If you’re going to help me find the portal, then check the crates,” said Ozzy.

  “Do I get any special prize for helping you?” Zeld winked.

  “Yeah, you get a less pissed off me.”

  She frowned. “I was hoping for a nice shag in bed, but suit yourself.” She patted his rear and walked toward a crate.

  Ozzy shook his head and placed both hands on the edge of the tomb’s lid. He pushed, but it didn’t budge.

  He folded his arms and concentrated his gaze on the lid. He saw some etchings and wiped away icy particles sitting on top of the writing. The writing lit up, displaying a circle inside another
circle that surrounded the engravings.

  He glanced over at Zeld. She had witnessed what occurred and proceeded to walk toward another crate near where they entered the large structure’s opening.

  When she reached the crate, she touched it. Her voice crackled over Ozzy’s com line, “This one doesn’t come on as that one did.”

  Ozzy shrugged. “Well, keep looking.”

  She went to the next crate and put her hand on it, whisking away some fog. “This one has some hieroglyphs I think you should see. This is definitely the switch to the portal.”

  Ozzy pushed Enki’s lid more. It moved and then slid off, landing with a loud thump on the floor.

  He peeked in. Bones. A human body. If this was Enki, the guy was twice his size and twice his width. A stone tablet was sitting on Enki’s sternum and ribs.

  From across the way, Zeld said, “Yep, this is it. The portal.”

  Ozzy put his hand inside Enki’s sarcophagus and grabbed the tablet. “Thank you, Mr. Enki.”

  He held it under his arm and made his way over to Zeld and her crate. He leaned over to read the glyphs. “It says activating the device will send all unattached objects to several areas on Earth. Those areas are the forest of the Athapaskan Tribes, the deserts of Kemet, the mounds of Taiga, and about twenty other locations I don’t want to keep reading.” His furrowed his brows in confusion. “How do we get to any of these locations? Is there a device somewhere in this warehouse?”

  He read more and frantically nodded his head. The glyphs etched on the crate’s lid suggested that there was a device inside. He had to get this lid open.

  “Push,” he said.

  They both leaned in and pushed.

  No movement.

  “Ozzy,” Jozi said over his helmet com. “I found two intense crystalline energy signatures in what used to be called Northern California. It’s in the old United States of America. You know, the—”

  “Yes, I know all about it. We’ll discuss it when I get back inside. Out.” He glanced at Zeld. “Okay, push as hard as you can.”