Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller

by Brandon Ellis

  “Below is Callisto’s central pyramid. Things are happening down there and inside that pyramid that, like I said, will blow your mind.”

  12

  J-Quadrant, Solar System - East Rise, Callisto

  A Kelhoon soldier pulled Jaxx’s arm, in attempt to get him out of his hut-like prison. The dome was barely big enough for the two of them to stand, but the Kelhoon muscled in close, heaving at Jaxx to get him out of his cell and into the main hall, where his cohorts were doing a bustling trade in Kelhoon Assholishness, marching prisoners from one end of the room to the other, while shoving and prodding and cussing at them.

  Jaxx didn’t budge, his Chi running on full strength. It’d take a handful of elephants to move him. Jaxx gazed down at his hands. The energetic cuffs weren’t something he’d experienced before. It singed the hairs on his wrists, but hovered a few centimeters off his skin even when he moved.

  The Kelhoon wrapped his arms around Jaxx and went to body-slam him.

  The Chi running through Jaxx strengthened his legs, rooting him more in place. “I’m not moving until I see the one in charge. We need to ta—” Jaxx grunted in pain and cringed, his teeth clattering together. The cuffs wrapped tightly around his wrists, and stung him with a thousand volts of electricity. Jaxx fell to his knees, his body shaking and spasming.

  The cuffs loosened, moving back to their original position a few centimeters above his skin.

  Jaxx shook his head. “Is that the best you got?”

  The Kelhoon lifted the butt of his rifle and slammed it across Jaxx’s cheek.

  Jaxx fell to the side and out of the hut-like cell, the Chi diminishing. “Now, that was an asshole move.” Jaxx jumped to his feet, his eyes nearly burning a hole through the Kelhoon warrior. Jaxx thrust his arms forward, releasing a wave of energy right at his captor’s solar plexus.

  The Kelhoon’s head whipped back and he tumbled across the cold floor.

  “Get your leader. And don’t worry, I’ll let myself back in the cell.”

  The Kelhoon warrior backpedaled on the ground, then scrambled to his feet. He eyed Jaxx for a moment and made a few clicking sounds in his throat. “Goowajka.” He slapped his rifle against his chest and walked away from Jaxx.

  Jaxx dipped his head and yelled over his shoulder, “Tell el-presidente, or whatever the hell you call the head honcho, that I would also like to speak with my brother. You know, the other ugly, white pale guy that looks a little like me?”

  The Kelhoon didn’t look back or respond. He headed for a horde of Atlantean warriors in chains. Many were bleeding and more were distraught, their heads down in defeat. They were being led out through the doors at the far end of the hall. Jaxx didn’t know if it was for slaughter or for the Kelhoon’s lucrative slave trade.

  Jaxx took a stride forward, ready to bash the heads of all the Kelhoon soldiers leading the Atlanteans to their inevitable doom. But he couldn’t intervene. It was one man against a dozen, heavily-armed Kelhoon. In any case, he had a mission that was more important than even himself. “Damn Kelhoon pricks.” Swallowing his heart back down his throat, he glanced back at his domed prison. Didn’t look like much. The roof was metallic and the floor plain cement.

  Zzzzzzzzzmmmmph!

  He thought too soon.

  A cage of fizzing, blue electric fire bars surrounded him. His newest jail sizzled, sending steam wafting toward the ceiling as the bar’s flaming energy hit Callisto’s cold air. The bars closed in on him, forcing him back into his hut. No sooner had he crossed the threshold, the hut’s door clanked closed and locked, plunging him into darkness. He turned. It was just Jaxx, this cage, and empty space all around. Not a Kelhoon warrior hell-bent on enslaving his race to kingdom come was in sight.

  But, really, what race was he thinking to protect? He was a mix of Human and Atlantean, a DNA cocktail that granted him powers, the likes of which he’d only seen in comic books.

  Powers.

  He brought up his Chi, glad he was doing this mission alone, not putting Zara, Kiyo-zan, or anyone else in harm’s way. He figured he’d convince the Kelhoon leader to join him in the fight against the Agadon

  “I don’t think so, brother.” A chair squeaked across the floor as someone stood.

  Jaxx jumped. He hadn’t seen or heard or felt another presence in his cell.

  His brother, Fox, stepped from the darkness, his eyes cold, his face expressionless. “You’re not convincing Kajka Okbak of anything. And if you bring up your Chi, then I’ll bring up mine. The best we’ll get out of it is neutralizing each other.” Fox came up to the bars, baring his teeth.

  “You may be powerful, Fox, but you don’t know these powers like I do.”

  Fox smirked, pacing around the energetic cage. “I’m pretty powerful myself. I’ll knock any attempt of your escape out of the park. You try to fizz out those cuffs, I’ll fizz out your brain.”

  Then Jaxx saw it—a device behind Fox’s ear. Jaxx closed his eyes. His vision expanded and through his third eye, he zoomed in on the device. He examined it, went through it like a needle through water, and watched the device’s algorithms and thought forms penetrate Fox’s mind. This wasn’t just a translation device or communication unit, it was a mind-control device.

  “If you’re so powerful, why do you have a Kelhoon device behind your ear?”

  Fox touched the oval implant behind his ear, then dropped his hand by his side. “It’s for me to better serve Kajka Okbak, the prime chieftain of the Kelhoon Liberation Force.”

  Jaxx shuddered when hearing Fox’s last comment. “So, that’s what they’re calling it? Is this Kelhoon Liberation Force liberating Atlanteans on Callisto from…the Atlanteans on Callisto?”

  Fox continued to pace. “Liberating the galaxy of senseless, un-needed pests, like you and these measly Atlantean scum.”

  “The Kelhoon farm us, you know? They eat us, remember? They also enslave us for their own bidding. Or, has that device behind your ear erased those truths?”

  “You’ll soon be wearing one, brother.”

  The door opened. A Kelhoon stood at the entrance, shadowed from Jupiter’s pink hues beaming through the doorway.

  A loud voice boomed, “Kajka Okbak, zanja shakanka.”

  Jaxx bowed. “Nice to make your acquaintance, Prime Chieftain.”

  Okbak gathered himself, shaking his shoulders as he entered Jaxx’s prison cell. The door slammed behind him. He snapped his fingers and the walls of the dome shot out in all directions, expanding to fill the hall beyond. He waved his hand over a panel and the ceiling exploded in a hail of bright white light, banishing the darkness. He grinned, dug into a satchel clipped to his belt, and pulled out an oval device. He held it up between his finger and thumb. It was identical to the device behind Fox’s ear.

  Okbak relaxed his fingers around it, stepped back, and watched it hover between the bars and move toward Jaxx.

  “I don’t think so, Okbak.” Jaxx went to light it on fire with his Chi, but grunted in pain instead. He fell to the floor, his eyes rolling back in his head, shaking from the electricity slicing into his arms.

  The cuffs had gripped his wrists like a snake wrapping around its victim.

  Jaxx brought up his Chi, set his intention on shorting out the cuffs, and sent the powerful universal energy toward his hands. The cuffs fizzled and electricity sparked outward. He threw his hands away from each other, breaking the link between his wrists. He heaved a few deep breaths, then slowly brought his eyes to Okbak. He took several steps forward, his nose only a few inches from an energetic bar. “You can either hear what I have to say, or die in the process of ignoring me. It’s your choice. If you force me to turn this energy on you, I will not hesitate.”

  Okbak narrowed his eyes, his pupil slits contracted and expanded a few times. He dropped his hand on the hilt of his gun holstered at his side. The device hovering next to Jaxx dropped and split in two.

  Okbak walked around the cage and sat in Fox’s seat. Fox stood next to h
im. “Oomja kanjaj.”

  “He says to enlighten him,” said Fox.

  Jaxx closed his eyes, projecting a thought packet to Okbak’s mind.

  Okbak jerked, and his scaly eyelids shut. He twitched and leaned forward as if watching an intense ball game—or whatever entertainment a Kelhoon might enjoy.

  Jaxx sent a moving picture, much like a movie, of a thunderous ship coming through the atmosphere. It was the Agadon race, the race that had already made its way to Callisto’s surface. The atmosphere and the desert-like planet that Jaxx was showing Okbak, however, was from one of Okbak’s planets occupied by his Kelhoon race.

  Then, crafts in the thousands entered his world.

  Okbak gasped. He reared back in his seat, almost as if catching his breath. “Gooja bakjama.” He stood, grunted, and stomped to the door. He put his green, lizard fingers on the door’s handle and glanced at Jaxx. “Agadon, myfanka janja.” He opened the door and walked out. The door slammed shut, shaking the floors and walls as they shrunk back to their original size.

  “Don’t worry, brother. He won’t kill you just yet,” said Fox. “He knows you’re lying about the Agadon. He knows they won’t be as much of a headache as you think.”

  “That’s what he said to me?”

  Fox shook his head. “No, he said you’re lying.”

  “And what did he say when he was at the door?”

  Fox gave a hearty laugh. “Okbak said he is going to convince the Agadon to join his side.”

  “That’s not what he said,” responded Jaxx. Fox’s string of words was too long for Okbak’s two to three-word sentence.

  “It was what he said. And from one brother to another, he has already set up a formal meeting with the Agadon. The Kelhoon and the Agadon will soon be running the galaxy together.” He walked to the door.

  Jaxx pursed his lips and slammed his fist into his palm. “Look at me, Fox.”

  Fox stopped and gazed into his brother’s eyes.

  Jaxx reached out, throwing a wave of energy at Fox. This wave, however, was something special, a strike filled with Jaxx’s own consciousness, his own mind.

  Fox put up his palm, easily stopping the Chi sent to him. “You’ve lost your touch, and so quickly.”

  “Not really. It’s going through you now.”

  “What’s going—” Fox put his hands over his ears and spun in a circle, his mouth open and eyes wide. The veins on his forehead and neck popped out. He yelped in pain and fell to his knees, and then to his back. He rolled on the ground, rocking back and forth. “What are you doing?”

  “Just getting that device off your body.” He closed his eyes and rushed through Fox’s body, up his arm, to his shoulder, then to the area behind Fox’s ear. He merged with Fox, sharing his feelings, his thoughts, his skin.

  Jaxx ran Fox’s fingertips together, and the sensation of skin against skin felt like his own, as if he was doing this inside his own body and not in Fox’s.

  He went deeper into Fox’s psyche, pushing out the Kelhoon-induced fear throbbing from the oval device, and cleared the electro-magnetic impulse blocking Fox’s neural synapses.

  He cleared it all out. Fox yelled in pain. Jaxx felt the stinging too, like hundreds of bees poking and prodding Fox’s brain.

  Jaxx pushed onward, visualizing the prongs from the oval device sticking through Fox’s flesh. He pushed on the ends of the prongs with his energy, slipping the device off of Fox’s skin and onto the floor.

  Jaxx jumped back into his body and opened his eyes. He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs. He bent over, his head spinning like a slow-moving top. He shook his head, doing his best to get his bearings about him.

  When everything halted and his senses came back to full awareness, he stood erect.

  Fox was on the floor as still as a sleeping baby.

  “Fox?”

  Fox blinked his eyes. “What?” His voice was tired, faint, and pissed off—like the Fox he knew.

  “Get up and go. Find Rivkah.”

  Fox stood, rubbing his head. He lost his balance and leaned against the wall. “Where the hell am I?”

  “You were being mind-controlled by the Kelhoon.”

  He glared at Jaxx. “You’re being mind-controlled if you think they could ever do something like that to me.” He squinted. “Why are you in a cage?” He looked around, clearly disoriented.

  “Fox, I need you to listen to me.”

  Fox stumbled like a drunk man, barely managing to stay on his feet.

  “Go find Rivkah. But the moment you leave this makeshift jail cell, I need you to act like you’re still controlled by that Kelhoon device.”

  “How?” Fox waived his arms around, catching himself from toppling over. “Was I drugged? What’s going on with me?”

  “Trust me. Leave this place and sneak out of this Kelhoon base. In the meantime, I’ve got to talk with Kajka Okbak some more.”

  “Who?” Fox thought for a moment. “The Kelhoon leader? Are you out of your gourd?” Fox leaned against a wall and slid down it, arms crossed at his stomach. He yawned. “You’re dreaming.” He shook his head, yawning again. “You’re pulling my chain. We’re not in a Kelhoon base.”

  The door clicked and creaked as it slowly opened. A Kelhoon with a rifle made his way in. Fox’s eyes went wide and he stood, confusion turning into anger. His energy signature said he wanted to pummel every inch of the Kelhoon warrior.

  “Fox, no, I won’t tell you where Rivkah is,” said Jaxx. “I’m not going to turn against the Atlanteans or the Humans. You can’t force me.”

  Fox unholstered his phaser and aimed it at Jaxx. He clenched his jaw and flexed his neck, exaggerating his next words. “What the hell is going on, Jaxx? Whose side are you really on?”

  13

  E-Quadrant, Solar System - Whitefish, Montana

  Carl lay on his back with his hands in front of his face. Purple blood dripped from his shaking fingers and to his chest. “What’s all over me?” He was wide-eyed, helpless, like a scared child.

  Drew sat on the cement floor, looking at the locked door, grateful that it was indeed locked. But truly, if someone wanted to get inside this basement room, what good would a lock do? Nothing.

  He stared at Carl, watching the purple liquid drip all over the big guy. “It’s blood, Carl.” Drew rubbed the back of his head, pained from the fall down the stairs, topped off by Carl landing on him.

  “Blood?” Carl’s lips quivered. “From what?”

  Megan fetched a towel out of the closet and tossed it at Carl. “You just shot an officer, I think.”

  Carl sat up, the purple liquid slipping off of his face, arms, and chest like goo. “That wasn’t a military man, Megan.” His face was stone cold. “Drew, did you see that thing…change?”

  Drew nodded his head. He saw a military officer, or whatever the guy’s rank was, shape-shift into some type of alien Being, not once but twice. “We need a chair.” Drew grabbed the wooden chair from the corner. Maybe placing that on the inside door knob would make it that bit harder to break through the door. “No, screw that. Do you have cement bags? Anything to put in front of that door? If someone wants to get in here, the locks on the door won’t hold.”

  Megan jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

  Drew spotted bags of rice, beans, and flour lined on shelves against a far wall. Outside, the alarms blared. He’d been so busy ogling the alien, he hadn’t noticed that the alarms were back, louder than ever.

  Megan nodded. “The alarms must have shorted out there for a while.”

  Carl didn’t acknowledge them or the alarms. He was trapped in his own world of panic.

  Drew fast-walked to a shelf, pulled off a bag of rice and carried it over to the door. Megan followed him. Drew dropped the bag at the base of the door and stopped. “Carl, we need your help. Move it, man.”

  Carl sniffed the blood on his hands. “I’ve smelled human blood and this isn’t human blood.”

  Drew bit back the urge
to say something sarcastic. The man was in shock. The fact that the blood was purple seemed not to have landed.

  Megan dropped a bag of beans on top of the rice in front of the door. She paced over to Carl and gave him a gentle kick. “Get up, Carl.”

  Carl got up, cement dust sticking to his hands. He used the rag and wiped it off. “I bet that’s what Mya is…an alien.” His face was emotionless, his mouth slightly gaped. “We have to kill her.”

  Drew dropped another bag of rice in front of the door. He put his hands on his hips. “You have to what?”

  Carl looked around. He couldn’t or didn’t want to make eye contact with either Drew or Megan. “I’ve smelled human blood before. My dad’s. It was a hunting accident.” He thought for a moment, his eyes blank, as if remembering that day. He shook his head and returned to the present. “I bet Mya’s blood smells like this purple blood. Her blood is probably purple too.”

  Drew stiffened. “Where is your rifle, Carl?”

  Carl pointed, his eyes dull. “Over there.”

  Drew followed Carl’s pointed finger. No rifle.

  He looked around, then eyed it lying near Carl’s feet. Drew walked over and quietly picked it up. He stepped back and aimed it at Carl. He cleared his throat. “Now, listen Carl. You touch a hair on Mya’s head and I’ll end your life. It’s that simple.”

  Carl didn’t respond, too deep in whatever plagued his thoughts, his lips moving like he was reading something to himself.

  Megan placed a bag of flour on top of the bag of rice. She strode over to Drew and pushed the rifle to the side and away from Carl. “He’s just in shock, Drew. He’s never killed a thing in his life but maybe an animal or two before the hunting accident. He hasn’t hunted since. And now he’s just killed some alien Being and it’s haunting him, I’m sure. Carl wouldn’t harm a child.”

  Drew brought the gun back up and aimed it at Carl.