by SJ McGarry
Centaurius
The Prophecy
Book one in the Green Galaxy Series
SJM Unlimited Publications Inc.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Table of Contents
Title Page
Centaurius: The Prophecy | Book One in the Green Galaxy Series
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
Connect with SJ McGarry
Centaurius: The Prophecy
Book One in the Green Galaxy Series
Copyright © 2019 by ShirLee McGarry
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the Author.
SJ McGarry/SJM Unlimited Publications LLC.
PO Box 18435
Salt Lake City, Utah 84118
[email protected]
Publisher’s note: Names and use of characters, persons, places or things, being real or fictional, is none-the-less a figment of the author’s imagination and any names places or things is non-sequential to the whole and should be treated as such.
“The Green Galaxy Series” of Centaurius: The Prophecy, book one is a Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy book series.
Centaurius is a fictional name given to a fictional planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about 3-4 billion light-years from planet earth. However, the future events of the universe with the collision of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are true facts from scientific research and journals predicted to take place 3-4 billion years from the present. Study of the condition of planet earth, its creatures and the future of humanity on earth, is also gleaned from past historical facts, present and future scientific findings, and predictions for our world and all living things within and should not be taken lightly.
Editor: In house editor @ format-your-book-4u.com
A special thank you for early edits by
Geoffrey T. Landward
Lisa Cerasoli VP of Story Merchant
Friesen Press Editor
Ian Gagne
Author Photo by Ashleyjohnphhoto
Graphics License by Shutterstock
Book Cover design by format-your-book-4u.com
To my Centaurius Beta Team. I can’t thank you enough
for your dedication and hours of reading and support
Lynn Anderson
Tamara Torkelsen
Ian Gagne
Brittany Brown
A BIG thank you to
Salt Lake City Writer’s Group:
Meet, Read, Critique, and help Each Other Write
Pat Coffey – Organizer
SJM Unlimited Publishing LLC
eBook Cover designed and pages formatted by format-your-book-4u.com
Also, By SJ McGarry
Green Galaxy Series
Centaurius: The Prophecy – Book 1
Centaurius: Into the Fracas -Book 2
The Key: Fractured Earth - Book 3
Short Stories
The Adventures of Cluck-Cluck
Pilot: Cluck-Cluck Goes to Court
Revision: The Subpoena, 2nd edition
Kidnapped
Poetry – A Chapbook
Echoes of the Mind
This book is in dedication to the spirit and beauty
of Mother Earth and all its creations and
the responsibility that is ours to our relationship
with all living things within our beautiful planet.
Hopefully through careful choices in how we
use Earth’s resources; we will leave the world’s
biosphere in perfect balance for future generations.
Every living organism within the planet is connected
and the balance between species is walking
a thin line towards total extinction.
“The future enters into us,
In order to transform us,
Long before it happens.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke~
German poet (1875-1926)
“The human brain has 100 billion neurons,
Each neuron connected
to 10,000 other neurons.
Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.”
Micho Kacu - Physicist, Futurist & Best-Selling Author
CHAPTER 1
The Congo
Earth – 2007
Silence snaked its way through the jungle. No chatter or movement escaped the oppressive atmosphere holding the Congo hostage-except the huge dark form sitting hidden among the foliage in sentry position. The vacuum of dead air cemented his 600-pound body in stealth mode. To calm his unease, he continued chopping on leaves and berries. Every bite reverberated throughout the dense shadows like the sound of war drums.
Senkewe looked around at his shrinking territory and his remaining twelve-member Silverback family; They snuggled together in a circle, preening their young. The members without babies foraged for food, and others for water. Senkewe’s senses percolated to full steam, sending an urgent BC message to warn the group of nearby danger and to return to immediately to the safety of their temporary boundary.
Through telepathic communication, evoked by enhanced brain chips (BC) and energy waves (EW), Senkewe communicated with all creatures using his BC abilities and sending them through the spiral pathways. The BC messages reported constant updates on other species also facing extreme stress or eventual extinction in alarming numbers, a result of continuous threats and changes within their environment.
By necessity, Silverbacks constantly moved in search of food, shelter, and water for survival, which became a regular weekly-if not daily-routine. Senkewe tried to keep a distance from their most feared predators. Fearing for his or the family's lives, never became an issue, nor did he faced direct conflict while protecting his space against invaders in his habitat. The thick vegetation kept them safe. Now everything changed.
Forests, once inaccessible, were left vulnerable. Interlopers made inroads, creating easy access. The barren paths cut deep. Habitats once boasted of luscious virgin jungles filled with flowers, ferns, bushes and trees of thousands of species, now replaced with large areas growing rows and rows of identical trees providing no food or shelter while destroying native vegetation needed for survival. Now infiltrators—apathetic of the living or breathing entities sustained in the jungle's interior-destroyed everything in their path. Life in the jungle was diminishing and falling silent.
Survival raced through Senkewe's mind. His eyes continued to scan for signs of anything foreign to the area or potential threats to his family group.
A snap of a twig shattered the silence. A strong scent of fear - and something unidentifiable registered and permeated the area activating the silverback alpha’s keen senses. Sending a silent BC alarm to hide and take cover, he stood tall, beating his chest in warning, ready to defend.
Three metal
clubs pushed through the bushes spitting deadly white fire giving little time for the apes to react or run for cover. Taken by surprise, the attackers emerged from the bush, slaughtering his entire family. Within seconds their blood ran in rivulets, penetrating the forest floor. The escalating pounding beat of Senkewe’s heart sent searing blood racing through his system as rage exploded through every cell of his body.
Senkewe's body jerked as the attack of the white fire raged on, ravaging his arms, legs, and chest. Once again beating his chest, he roared through his pain. The instinct to kill for his preservation took hold as he could see only the color red through the blood bath and charged full-speed towards the predators. With one sweep of his giant hands, he grabbed the clubs and swung them with primitive intent: kill or be killed. The poachers fell to the ground and scurried into the brush, fleeing in terror for their lives.
Survival instincts kicked into play. Raising the clubs' high overhead, Senkewe snapped them in two and hurled them against the surrounding trees, where they shattered into smaller pieces. His inconsolable roar broke the jungle's sound barrier of silence.
Defeated, broken and roaring in pain, he collapsed to the ground, dragging his bullet-mangled body to where those he loved laid trapped in death's embrace.
The final scene his eyes registered showed the fear on his newborn daughter’s face, still alive and screaming, clinging to her mother's bullet-ridden body. With his last ounce of strength and love, Senkewe raised his arm, stretching his fingertip as far as his reach allowed. Their fingers touched as darkness prevailed, claiming the last patriarch and symbol of the African jungle.
BC distress signals spiraled through the universal pathway. They carried visions of bloodshed and death-a message of raw fear of Earth's future and the inevitable extinction of lifeforms.
DEATHLIKE SILENCE SWALLOWED and held captive all remaining wildlife hiding in terror as their sad eyes searched for any sign of life from the apes. Two days passed. The residual odor of metallic smoke and copper still swirled encasing the frantic buzz of flies, the only living entity daring to move, hovering over the slaughtered remains of the mountain gorillas.
Upon the discovery of the cruel massacre, a convoy of porters lifted the apes' lifeless forms on rustic frames made from felled trees and carried them barefoot for miles back to base camp. Their clothing tattered and caked with mud from the long trip, they rounded the last hill and arrived at the park's sanctuary reserve. They lowered the makeshift wooden carriers on the ground, placing the gorillas’ bodies side by side. The burning sensation in their eyes could not compete with the stench of death defused across the camp as they stood in a circle around their lifeless corpses.
The entire staff on the reserve interacted and called each great ape by the names they chose for each member of the silverback family which identified them as personally as the human families who lived within the sector of the park. Senkewe, the alpha male was known to all, and his legend proceeded him.
One ranger carried with him the last surviving baby of Senkewe’s family. The park warden stepped forward and took the tiny primate in his arms. After examining the mangled bodies lying silently on the ground, he said with a thundering voice, "This is pure evil! What type of monster committed such a cruel and senseless massacre?"
Everyone in the circle bowed their heads in grief.
After an uncomfortable moment of silence, the warden whispered, "Even a beast is not capable of such evil."
The evidence lay before them and revealed a heinous act-a massacre committed by ruthless, soulless killers.
MIRRORED VIBRATIONS shook the pathways through the infinity of space. Distressed BC signals containing past memories pierced through the protective boundaries of the Milky Way Galaxy. They pulsated and spiraled in HyperZin motion (HpZ), moving faster than the speed of light-or warp mode—towards the Andromeda Galaxy.
CHAPTER 2
The Andromeda Galaxy
In the Distant Future
Keno scratched his head. Working for rings on end to fix the system's glitch of the mother ship Titan 1, he was about to quit and get some rest to return later refreshed. After putting in long hours, recalculating every problem he could think of to bring the system back online, he reached over to power down in auto mode to save fuel. A burst of lights seized the ship's panel.
"Yes, yes, yes! Captain Norhann, quick, look at this”, Keno exclaimed. “We are receiving mass distress signals from planet Earth. They are coming in by the thousands. It's difficult to keep up,"
Captain Norhann and the other officers on the bridge rushed to the communication console and observed the frenzied light show. The Galaxy Information Screen jumped to life as the crew of Titan 1 viewed what might be the beginning of the apocalypse of Earth.
~~~ Mini Rings Earlier ~~~
All appeared quiet as the formidable mothership of the Centaurian Empire—Titan 1, the model of stealth incarnate—patrolled the perimeter within of the Andromeda Galaxy. The spaceship's presence was the only intrusion infringing upon the tranquility of the night.
With its sleek, angular construction, lack of vertical surfaces and its newest, secret weapon, Titan 1's new technology made it impossible for enemies of the Centaurian Empire to detect. However, with a closer inspection, one could see the illusion of pulsating, twinkling stars moving in a rhythmically slow and lethal dance pattern against the infinity of space, cloaking the exterior. If the invisible spaceship’s shield lifts, Titan 1 blazed bad news headlines to the unexpected intruder, much too late for the enemy to react or defend.
Keno, Communication Officer and inventor of the Observation Mind Neurons in Space (OMNIS III) computer, had searched for hours to discover the glitch blocking the incoming communication. He was, in reality, "flying the spaceship," since a malfunction had rendered the OMNIS III useless for the first time since its creations hundreds of Centaurian rings past.
Keno swept his long raven hair from his face, hoping for a more unobstructed view would help him zero in on the problem. His intense almond eyes swollen like cherry bombs ready to explode, squinted shut in protest. He checked and rechecked the readings of the spiral BC's memory since becoming non-operative and silent. The other officers kept busy, reading their instrument panels and mapping coordinates into the Galaxy Information System.
Without warning, every light on Titan 1 control panel—which covered the entire width of the starboard, flashed in neon colors. OMNIS III showed unidentified spiral memory chips (SMC) downloading into the hard drive, bypassing the Brain Chip Computer's (BCC) capturing-and-filtering components, making it difficult to identify its point of origination.
The mysterious SMCs continued sending mass data of information, creating swirls of light streaming around the dials. Sparks shot out like electric eels dodging the sword of Damocles. Masses of electrical tentacles holding dangerous amounts of energy wound in unusual patterns and formed a stranglehold on the equipment.
A deformed impression appeared within the hologram capturing double helix molecular shapes of a distorted double-stranded DNA quivering molecule, leaving colored streams in their wake. The unit jumped to life, cramming OMNIS III with the communication from an unknown source.
Keno let out a hair-raising shout of victory. His fingers flew across the keypad, typing commands to identify the incoming source. He adjusted the Memory Intake Screen's view of the streaming SMCs and re-routed the feed into the BC capture module.
The crew of Titan 1 watched as wave after wave of spiral BC memories past flooded into the system. The crew’s minds involuntarily cemented on the visual data with every eye glued in disbelief, as the historical accounts through the past ages of time unfurled the bizarre events of a mysterious pattern of chaos and decline of planet Earth.
CHAPTER 3
Nella
Present Spiral Ring-Headquarter of the Centaurian Empire
THE Phoenix, the Empire's newest interplanetary stellar starship currently sat at the space terminal in the country of Dack
ara within the capital city of Atrore. This was also was the headquarters of the Imperial Empire and home to King Montrobius of Centaurius.
Engineers and technicians ran final maintenance check in preparation for the ship's first search and repair spaceflight to Earth. Heads turned as a weird sound vibrated throughout the hanger working scowls into smiles.
"On the Good Ship Lollypop, la-la, la, la, la-la-la." Warbling vocal cords reaching dangerous levels for normal hearing, filled the ship’s narrowing space with Nella singing along to her favorite musical classics from Earth, improvising as needed.
Aboard the spaceship, the Phoenix, her ship, as she often referred to it with affection, Nella busily set to the business at hand of conducting intensive checks on all systems. She continued singing nonsense as she checked off operational items for safety within the spacecraft's interior. She moved to the next thing on her list to test the ship’s communication capability.
"I've thrown away my toys," her voice trilled with gusto. Well, since she didn't have toys growing up but only swords and weapons to play with, she knew the toys didn’t count. Another sad revelation was the many opportunities missed in developing friendships or possible relationships with robust and handsome male warriors. “I must be a Twazzat!" Curses slipping under her breath bouncing around the walls of the ship, sadly reminded her she had few friends.
Not to let discouragement set in with her creative musical moment and happy with her attempt at rhyming, she didn’t waste time finishing her next original line. "I don't have the toys; I'm done with boys; I'll make a lot of noise when my ship deploys."
"Testing, testing, one-two-three, testing," she spoke into the mike, flipping a couple of switches to the 'on' position and adjusting the volume dials to equalize the sounds as she continues her musical debut. "Someday I will fly, I'll be the captain too, and when I do, you can come and be my crew, O-de -lady-hoo."