Gragas put his arms out wide and stepped in the middle of the forming huddle. He pulled Ozzy and wrapped his arms around him, smacking Ozzy’s back with his palm. “Welcome to the club.”
That was it? A damn hug? If training were like this, then it’d be as easy as riding a bike.
Ozzy hugged back. He’d never been in a club. Heck, he’d never really had friends.
He let go and looked Gragas in his eyes. “Thank you.”
Dizzy gave some pops and snaps, and Quad patted Ozzy on the head.
Ozzy backed out of the bridge and gave a curt bow, not really knowing what else to do. “I’ll need to digest this.” He hurried down the corridor to find a room with a bed.
He went down several halls, and his thoughts turned to Lily and Jozi. Both were in his heart now and forever more. One, thank Mars, was still alive.
He turned down another corridor and wandered down the line of doors and found one that didn’t have a sign and a name.
He swiped his hand over the control panel. The door opened. It was empty, except for a bed and a few portholes for windows.
He laid down and fluffed the pillow. He rested his head and stared out the holes, watching the cosmos.
After ten minutes, he yawned and closed his eyes. Before he found his dream state, he thought of Lily. Deep down, he knew she was safe. Deep down, he knew Gragas was going to help him get his daughter no matter what stood in the way.
Yes, it wouldn’t be too long until they landed on Mars, and it wouldn’t be too long until he had Lily in his arms once again.
Then he’d start the Galactic Knights’ training. And the adventures would begin, meeting alien races he’d never met or knew existed and, most importantly, as a Galactic Knight he’d be doing something good for his people—fighting off the Dunrakee.
This ought to be interesting.
Epilogue
Ozzy opened his eyes. He was in bed, and Jozi was on his mind. He couldn’t help but think of her. It wasn’t love. At least, he didn’t think it was. Was it her kindness that had consumed him? Was it her constant help and kick-ass skills?
He’d been on this ship for two weeks. Other than Jozi, Lily had been on his mind just as much. They were his two girls. One was alive. The other wasn’t.
The two weeks thus far on this journey also told him that the Galactic Knights were good guys. They welcomed him as if he were their long-lost brother. Quad, on the other hand, had been missing most of the time. He was working on a pet project in the ship’s lab.
Top secret.
Ozzy sighed. Since being on the ship, he felt rested, well fed, and finally safe for the first time in a long time.
He stared out of the portholes in his room as he did every morning and night—not as if space had mornings or nights. Yet, here he was with a gaping hole in his heart—for Jozi.
He missed her.
Immensely.
But he knew he’d get over her. Someday.
A knock on his door jolted him out of his thoughts.
He craned his neck. No one ever knocked on this ship or bothered him when he was in his room. He shrugged it off. He was hearing things.
Another knock.
The lines creased on his forehead and his brows scrunched together. “Come in.”
The door opened, and Quad stepped in. “I’ve been tinkering.” He looked down, almost as if there was pent up worry he was trying to hide.
“Tinkering?” Ozzy sat up. He placed his feet on the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. He liked Quad, but he’d rather get some sleep. He didn’t want to hear about what gadget Quad was creating. “I gotta rest.” He yawned, emphasizing his wish.
“It’s Jozi.”
Ozzy held in a breath. “Jozi? What do you mean?”
“I played with her parts.” He motioned for Ozzy to follow him. “Let me show you.”
Played with her parts? He knew Quad probably wasn’t a pervert and probably had no attraction to women not of his own race, but what parts was he talking about? He remembered Quad taking Jozi to the healing tubes after she had passed, but that’s all he knew. He hadn’t seen Jozi since. He wasn’t too keen on seeing her deteriorating body in the healing tube, either, so he never visited her body even when he had the chance.
This whole trip he had had that chance.
Did Quad take her out of the healing tube and tinker with her organs or something? He didn’t want to see her kidneys or liver if that’s what Quad wanted to show him.
“I’ll pass.”
“She’s alive, Ozzy.”
Ozzy bolted up. “No, no.” He gave a half smile, but this wasn’t a funny joke, and perhaps Quad’s alien race had a sick sense of humor. “I’m staying right here. I’ll see you at breakfast.” He hoped Quad would get the hint and move on.
“Ozzy, I don’t lie. I don’t know how to. She’s alive.”
Ozzy pushed off his bed and stood. The guy’s tone told Ozzy that Quad was telling the truth.
“Alright.” Something wasn’t adding up. What did Quad create? Frankenstein?
He followed Quad out of his room and down a corridor. They passed the engine room, the infirmary, and finally made it to the lab.
“Are you ready?”
Ozzy wasn’t. Two and two weren’t fitting together.
Quad opened the door.
Ozzy’s mouth dropped open.
“Hi, Ozzy.”
Jozi was sitting on a doctor’s table. All types of tools Ozzy had never seen lined the walls and holocomputers surrounded her.
She was hooked up via wires to several machines, and a beeping sound from one of the computers mimicked her heartbeat.
A tear streaked down her cheek, and the coloring on her face was nice and rosy.
“Yes, it’s me, Ozzy.” Her voice cracked, and her blue eyes sparkled as they always had. Her black hair was pushed to one side, revealing a shaved portion with a long scar running along her scalp.
Ozzy stepped inside the room. His mouth was still shaped in an “o.” “Wha…how?”
Jozi stood. She wobbled and held onto the table to keep her balance. She pulled the wires out of her skin. “I’m not used to this.”
“You will assimilate quickly,” replied Quad.
“Used to what?”
“Everything.” Jozi pushed down her jumpsuit collar to show her sternum. A scar ran down her chest, and he imagined that if she showed him more, he’d see the scar go all the way to her belly. “Quad put some new parts in me and took out some old, damaged ones.” She looked down. “I no longer need food. I have energy reserves, somewhat like a battery. Several of my organs were far too damaged to repair, so he replaced those too.” She scuffed the floor with her foot. “I have a robotic heart, Ozzy.”
“But you’re alive.” Ozzy walked to her and touched the bottom of her chin. She was real. “I’m…uh…how…”
He was at a loss for words. His chin trembled. She was holy-crap alive.
She looked at Ozzy, her eyes full of sadness. “I feel…not right. I don’t know why.” She touched her heart. “Maybe because I don’t have a real heart?” She wrapped her arms around Ozzy and sobbed, leaning her forehead against his chest.
Ozzy squeezed her against him. She was living and breathing. He wanted to fist pump the air and to give Quad the biggest hug the guy would never forget. A lump began to form in his throat, and he held in his tears. “It’s okay. As Quad said, you’ll get used to it.” He had no idea if that were true.
Hell, he didn’t know how else to answer. He didn’t know if that would ever be true. How could she get used to something that wasn’t her own that didn’t grow inside of her from birth?
“I guess I will,” she replied.
Quad stepped out of the room, and the door shut, leaving Ozzy and Jozi alone.
She grabbed hold of him and squeezed tighter, crying deeply and pushing out guttural sobs. “Ozzy?” she mumbled, her voice cracking.
“Yes, I’m here.” He continued to hold h
er.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
She shook her head against his chest. “I’m not human anymore.”
Ozzy pulled her in closer. She was cold, yet she was more human than most humans Ozzy had ever known. There was nothing that would change that. He rubbed her back and grabbed her hand. He turned, leading her to the door.
She stumbled and leaned on him as a crutch. The door opened, and they walked into the corridor.
“I can’t be a human. I’m different now.”
Ozzy turned and faced her. “You’re human to me. No matter what anyone says, no matter how you have changed, you’ll always be a human. Don’t forget that.”
Ozzy was holding in his shock. Once dead and now alive? How the hell did Quad pull something like this off?
Right now it didn’t matter. He could question Quad later.
Jozi was alive and with him. If this were a dream, he’d be an idiot to wake up.
They walked down the hallway and to the viewing area. She was shivering. He sat her down and plopped down beside her.
She rested her cheek on his shoulder.
He rubbed her arm to help her warm up. He smiled. He had his sidekick back. Other than being with Lily, there was nothing else that would make him happier than sitting here with Jozi.
“There’s something I’ve never told you, Jozi.”
“What’s that?”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you for what?”
Ozzy closed his eyes. “For everything.”
Martian Legacy
Mars Colony Chronicles Book 5
Prologue
98,623 BC—Mars—before Human’s Roamed the planet
The Martian sky rumbled and the earth shook. A fire cloud rose in the midst of an evergreen forest. Trees fell and cracked against the forest floor.
War was raging.
A second Maldekian enemy ship exploded beyond the fertile mountains, and flashes of lights from weapon’s fire erupted in the sky, hitting their targets, and downing pilots and their crews.
Froj of Amberjay looked away from the battle, his heart thick in his throat, and his eyes welling with tears.
He glanced at his mentor, his lips trembling under his thick beard. He held his hands out, his fiery red hair waving in the wind.
“Kyje of Upper Frostwood,” said Froj, dipping his head to his mentor, his chin touching his chest. “Why is this happening? Why can’t they get along?”
An orange and yellow eruption bloomed in the distance and Froj winced, the vibration shaking his core.
“Because we’ve made the wrong decisions,” replied Kyje, eyeing the sky. He pointed to his chest. “That goes for me. For you. And most assuredly, to the Martian Council. So I, Kyje of Upper Frostwood, gift these to you, Froj of Amberjay, to find them a home before we all perish, before we all fall, and before we all burn in front of the gates of Imalka. These must be kept safe until the day they are found by the Exploring Race. This is your mission. Do you understand?”
Kyje held out five green emerald stones, all encoded with instructions for the Explorer Race.
“When these stones are properly unlocked,” continued Kyje. “It will aid the Explorer Race in more ways than they could ever imagine. This will open up hidden DNA strands, and give them their purpose in the Universe.” He shook the stones in his hands. “They will learn they are much more than they think. They will learn their true destiny. They will be the saviors of the Universe. Do you understand, Froj?”
The young man nodded, wiping a tear from his eyes. “I’m a Golden Ark Protector.” He slapped his chest. “I will carry my oath forward.”
A nearby concussion blast jostled the ground, and the smokey, gray sky flashed yellow as another ship was lost.
“I will find a safe place for the Gaia Stones,” stated Froj, his eyes wide and taking the stones from Kyje’s hands into his own, his coat whipping in the winds of battle. “But, Kyje, where shall I hide them?”
Kyje grabbed Froj’s shoulders and peered deeply into his eyes. “Close your eyes.”
Froj did as asked, clutching the Gaia Stones tightly.
Another eruption sent a powerful gust across his body, and he did everything in his power not to move.
Kyje palmed Froj’s forehead, wrapping his thumb and fingers around the young man’s temples. “Listen well, my student. The Maldekeans and Martians will be no more, and that shall pass soon. Instructions for your mission will arrive promptly, but understand that neither I nor you will be going underground. We will both die by the prophecies claim: the student’s death will ensure the Gaia Stone’s safety.”
Froj opened his eyes wide. “I’m going to die?”
The ground rumbled and another fire ball lit up the sky, sending debris from a blown out ship tumbling through the forest.
Kyje slapped Froj’s side. “Look at me, Froj.”
Froj frantically nodded, bringing his focus back to his mentor.
“Know that I will neither survive, nor anyone else on this planet but the few I’ve sent underground. All those who have escaped off planet have taken the last of the ships. And all that remain are the unbelievers, the government’s armies, and the insane.”
Froj fell to the ground as a blast from a stray cannon sent chunks of dirt splattering against him and Kyje.
“Get up, young Golden Ark Protector,” said Kyje, bending over, and helping his student to his feet.
Froj stood, glancing around at the bones littered across the land from a ground battle waged here a few months prior.
He examined an energy weapon on the ground, and moved it aside with his boot. “I’m scared, Kyje. I mourn the Martian Council’s decision. A decision that will kill us all.”
The council was tired and weary from the amount of bloodshed the war between the Martians and the Maldekians were causing. They felt it needed to stop, and needed to stop now.
The Maldekians were cruel and unrelenting. But the council didn’t understand the power of the Ark of the Concordant like Kyje and Froj did, and like the other Golden Ark Protectors before them.
Yet, the Council forcibly took the Ark and the Ark’s secrets, and had found a member of the bloodline willing to help them use the Ark to send hell upon the Maldekian planet, Maldek, to end the horrible race once and for all.
“The Ark of the Concordant…” said Froj, hesitating for a moment, knowing they’ve had this conversation before. “We can still seize it, Kyje. We can capture it, and hide it like these stones. We can convince the Council that if we target Maldek with the Ark, we target ourselves.”
Kyje placed his hands on his student’s cheeks. “All of those of the bloodline that were on our side, my dear Froj, have escaped our lovely planet. Those few of the bloodline that have chosen to stay have turned a blind eye to the Ark’s power. They will not change their minds.”
Kyje pointed at the enemy planet in the distance, a planet so close it appeared as a moon. It shined blue and green, its beauty soon to be vaporized into a million pieces, and shattered across the cosmos. “There is no more hope. Understand this, Froj. We are going to lose everything, including the beauty on our planet.”
A hum echoed across the valley and Kyje turned, waving his hands in the air. “She is here.” He slapped his hands together. “She’s going to take you to the opening. Now, go, and complete your mission.”
“Will I ever see you again, Mentor?”
The ship landed, flattening the large gray and brown grasses covering a meadow just outside the edge of the forest.
Kyje opened his coat. Energy detonators were strapped around his torso. “I will give it one last chance.”
Froj mouth gaped open. “You are committing suicide? That is not in accord with our Order. No one can take their own life, not even in war.”
Kyje’s eyes narrowed and he looked down upon his student. “I have attempted everything, and this will be my last attempt. I will burn the council when they let me into th
e temple, stopping them from activating the Ark.”
“They won’t let you in with those around your body, Mentor.”
“I will force my way inside.”
The ship’s doors opened and a woman stepped out of the craft, and walked toward the trees lining the edge of the forest, her red hair flowing in the wind and her long, athletic strides moving her closer to the last two Golden Ark Protectors on Mars.
Kyje motioned toward the woman. “My daughter will take you to the opening. There you will set these Gaia Stones and my daughter will take them to the underground base. She could take these stones herself, but I’m giving you this last mission as a thank you for being of the Order, and a gratitude for being in service to others.”
The woman walked into the forest and approached her father, her eyes bloodshot, and tears streaking down her cheeks. She leaned her head against her father’s shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m going to miss you, father.”
“And I you.” He kissed her on top of the head. “Farewell to the both of you. I will see you on the other side of the veil.” He took a step, and then ran deep into the woods, and disappeared from view, heading toward the council temple that hovered above the forest canopy in the distance, the splendor of its round, orbed structure could be seen through the gaps in the branches.
Kyje’s daughter looked down at her folded hands. “He refuses to join us under the earth. It may be safe there. We may survive if what you and my father says what is coming is true.” She sniffed. “Why does he want to die?” She planted her hand on Froj’s chest, and looked at him, her eyes welled in tears. “Why do you want to die, too, my love?”
“Laija of Upper Frostwood,” he leaned in, kissing her gently on her lips. “We have failed the Ark, and with failure comes our demise. It is the Order’s law. It is what we swore to do if we lost the Ark. We give our lives to it, and our souls, as well.”
A line of golden energy shot from the top of the hovering council temple, and the gray sky lit up like a sun.
Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure Page 79