The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series

by Heather Heckadon

  The days grew shorter and shorter, and I knew the deep night was coming. I thought back to the first time we had encountered the planet’s circadian rhythm. It was so cold. Frigid. I was hungry. I was scared. I didn’t think I or any of my friends would make it out alive. We weren’t prepared. We didn’t know it was coming, and that was all due to Leslie. He had known and hid it to make good TV. He had put our lives in jeopardy for his show, Grow. Now the tables were turned, except he had fair warning. He should have known it was coming. He certainly had more time to prepare and more supplies at his disposal, yet there he was outside my walls. Begging.

  One night, the Herrold brother’s astronomers told us that the time had come for the deep night. The Earth would eclipse the sun and turn Circadia dark. I waited at the gates of the wall for the sun to fade away while the rest of New Haven gathered in the common area to star-gaze. I stood staring at the gates, anxious and waiting. Soon enough, Smith and Jane came to stand beside me, one on either side. No one said a word. We just knew.

  As Earth began to eclipse the sun, I gave the signal to open the gates. They swung past my face as I stood dead center between them, but I didn’t flinch. I watched as Leslie lifted himself from the ground and came alone to the opening. He was disheveled and withered from malnourishment. His lips were dry and cracked, and his eyes sunken in his face. “Aella. I knew you’d have some mercy. Thank you.” He extended his hand to thank me, but I stood rigid.

  “Make no mistake. It’s not mercy.” I lifted the pistol in my hand to point directly at his skull.

  His eyes went wide and confused, then dropped to the ground. “Why then?” he whispered. I watched his hands tremble.

  “I want to tell you something, and I wanted to see your face when I said it.”

  “What’s that?” he hissed.

  “You get to live.” I lowered the gun.

  His face contorted into a confused expression. “So it is mercy.” He sighed as if in relief.

  “No. Things on Circadia aren’t handed to you. You have to work for it. One of your crewmen you hired told me, ‘To earn your right to live is beautiful,’ and he was correct. Life on Circadia is beautiful, but you have to earn it. I won’t come after you. I won’t seek retaliation for the things you’ve done here, although you deserve it, but you’ll have to earn your right to live. If you can’t survive Circadia, you don’t deserve to be here.” I pressed my lips together and waited for his reaction. My hand ached from its tight grip on the pistol. It took all my self-control not to use it.

  He looked up at me with sad eyes. “Please.” He searched Jane’s and Smith’s faces for weakness, looking for someone to bail him out of his impending situation. I watched as the shadow on his face faded to black as Earth completely eclipsed the sun. “Wait!” he shouted in obvious panic as the light vanished. “Please! I’ll do anything.”

  “Then fight to survive.” I stepped back and whistled for the gates to close. He didn’t move. Didn’t try to rush the opening. He simply stood there, shocked.

  Once the gates had shut, I looked up at the gatekeeper. He was a young boy who was doing as instructed, but he looked scared. I shouted up to him, “Keep an eye. If anything happens, let one of us know.”

  He nodded and gazed out beyond the wall into the dark.

  DAYS LATER, THE SAME gatekeeper informed me that Leslie had passed, and the rest of his group did soon after.

  They didn’t deserve Circadia.

  WE TOOK DOWN THE WALLS a couple of weeks later. There was no longer a need for them, and they made excellent burning material to keep us warm through the deep night. It made the world feel like it was all ours again, but really, it belonged to anyone who could survive it.

  One night while sitting around the fire with heaps of blankets, Jane looked at me and sighed. “Do you think Earth is ready for what’s about to happen?”

  I thought but then smiled. “Probably as ready as they’ll ever be. I don’t know what’s happened in the last month, but I’m sure everyone is fed up. This will be the icing on the cake.”

  “I wish we were going to be there to see it. To feel the energy, you know?” Jane said.

  Smith cut in. “We’ve fought our battles. Watching Leslie disappear from existence was enough for me. We’ll be ready to help them when they’re ready. We’ll make a difference in our corner of the galaxy, as they will but in different ways.”

  “I guess you’re right,” I said. “I’m excited for the Herrold brothers to get here in the morning.”

  “I’m sure Jane is too.” Smith snorted.

  Jane returned his joke with a steely glare, then burst out laughing. “Oh, I am!” she exclaimed and continued to laugh.

  I listened as her merriment floated into the sky and past the trees I had once run to for cover. The same forest I had sat in with Garrett and watched the skitters play. The same trees I had fought wars in and had found love in as well. Hearing the echoes of a friend's laughter through them really drove it home for me. I knew in my soul that I was truly meant to be here and destined to call Circadia my home.

  In the morning, the sun finally peeked out from behind Earth’s occlusion and lit the way over Circadia. The light dripped over the trees and down onto the flower weed like sweet honey on a biscuit. Nothing could ever bring me more hope or joy than watching the sun rain down on Circadia after a deep night.

  The community of New Haven watched as the Herrold brothers’ enormous craft touched down in the open field outside the colony. The wind pushed the flower weed around the ship flat to the ground. The engines roared until they came to a slow stop. After opening the hatch at the top, the brothers emerged and waved to say hello. We ran to greet them.

  “Hey, Phillip! Hey, Ross! You made it!” I called.

  “Did you ever doubt it?” Ross returned. It was a rhetorical question typical of him.

  “You ready to make things happen?” Phillip asked.

  “You know it,” I replied.

  Once the brothers had descended from the enormous craft, I watched another pair of hands grasp for the surface. Then a head popped out. It was Chris.

  “Hello, Aella!” His smile stretched from ear to ear.

  “Chris! I didn’t realize you would be coming along on this expedition!” It hadn’t occurred to me that Chris would ever come to Circadia. He seemed genuinely interested in Earth’s affairs, and I didn’t think he would leave it.

  “I had to see your face when we released the video. Axel is back on Earth to catch the footage of the reactions to the video and the initial uprising. You know him. He’s got it. I wanted to be here, at least for a little while.”

  I nodded quietly, then looked down and kicked the ground. “You think it’s going to have the impact we’re hoping for?”

  Chris walked over to me and pulled up my chin so that it was high in the air. “This video is going to inspire history.”

  THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY sat in the common area waiting. A few men from the Herrold’s team worked on setting up the projector and the white screen. Jane and Smith came to sit next to me on the ground. Phillip and Ross stood behind us. One of the men setting up the projector flashed the brothers a thumbs-up, and Ross walked to the front.

  “Everyone quiet!” He paused for a moment as the community silenced. “Thank you. Now, I know you all know what this video is about. Hopefully, this will expose The Divinity and inspire the people of Earth to retaliate and initiate a more unified rebellion. It will play live on Earth as we stream it here. Our teams have hijacked all the stations so that no one, not even the mainstream media, can say otherwise. This is about breaking away from control and giving the power back to the people. Some of the things you’re going to see are hard to watch, so be prepared. Everyone ready?”

  The community sat silent, but he pressed play anyway.

  The white screen turned black, and I heard voices playing through the speakers the team had set up surrounding the common area. It was my first sabotaged interview with the media.
The whole thing. It ended with me being upset and saying the host wasn’t interested in the full story. Then it cut to the farmers and explained what The Divinity had taken from them. After that, it switched to Washington, D.C. and its ash-covered, burnt monuments. Scenes of The Divinity taking away tons of weapons from the people played next. Then it cut to me on Circadia with a gun in my face. More scenes flashed by at dizzying rates until it showed my face. I thought back to the day I made this portion of the video and the resolution I had felt by doing so. The video continued.

  “My name is Aella Toms. You may or may not know me, but I’m rooting for you. The Divinity, our tyrannical government, has taken over. They’ve taken everything from us. Our livelihoods. Our food. Our homes. Our hope.”

  I paused and stared into the camera. “But no more. I’m standing up and taking back what’s mine. They took my entire world from me—Circadia. I took it back. I fought for what I wanted. I rose and declared, ‘No more!’ Now I’m ready to help you, but you have to help yourself.

  “Grab your neighbor. Grab your friend. Fight back! Fight for what’s yours. There’s never been a better time. Don’t wait for it to get worse. Don’t wait until it personally affects you. This should be personal for all of us. They took what was yours. A government by the people, for the people, is now dictated by a few greedy individuals. They will stop at nothing. Nothing will ever be good enough for them, and that shouldn’t be good enough for you. So stand up. Take back what’s yours.”

  The screen cut to images that Axel had obviously shot of small rebellions at food dispersals where civilians regained control and gave out reasonable rations of food and happy people sang in the streets. It cut back to me again. “This is your world.”

  More images of Earth and happy people streamed past as my voice urged, “Don’t let it slip away,” as scenes from a decimated D.C. returned as grim reminders. “Gun for them.”

  The screen faded to black.

  Everyone sat silent. Phillip stood and walked to the front. “I know there’s probably a lot of emotions right now, especially since all of you used to call Earth home and some still do. We’re going to switch to Axel’s live stream from Earth. Okay?”

  No one said a word.

  The screen flipped to a frozen image of Axel Cason. It glitched for a moment, then caught up with itself. “Hey, everyone! Axel Cason here in Old Paris, where people have presumably watched the iconic Circadia video simultaneously. I’m going to head over to The Divinity Embassy here to see what they’re up to.”

  We watched as he walked the cobblestone streets and rounded the corner of a building to reveal a massive crowd of people shouting and chanting at the nearest structure. “Gun! Gun for them! Gun! Gun for them!” They cheered and threw things at the facility. The camera showed as the embassy doors opened and soldiers in riot gear appeared in a uniform pattern to form a wall at the top of the steps.

  The chanting stopped.

  A man’s voice rose from the now-silent crowd. “Surrender!” he demanded.

  The soldiers in riot gear stood still. He shouted it again. No answer. He raised his fist with his three-circle tattoo showing unity and yelled, “Gun for them!” then thrust his hand forward. The crowd lurched forward in one smooth motion, overcame the men in riot gear, and proceeded to enter the embassy.

  The view switched back to Axel holding his camera selfie-style. “Obviously, the clip was well received. Let’s switch over to Rebecca in Los Angeles.”

  The livestream switched to a sunny background with a young woman holding her camera in the same style as Axel had. “Thanks, Axel! I’m here at the North American Embassy, where hordes of people are lining the gates demanding reform, although they don’t seem able to get past the security gates and fence—Wait! Oh. My. God. There’s a tank. A civilian tank. It’s coming this way...I think it’s going to run right over the fence and—Wow! They’ve done it. They’ve driven a tank right over the security entrance, and hundreds of people are invading the embassy!” She turned the camera to show the lime green tank sitting atop the guardrails and fencing while crowds ran around it and into the building.

  The stream switched back to Axel. “We’re receiving reports like this from around the world. I’ll show you a few.”

  The live cam flipped through multiple main cities as scenes of people overtaking The Divinity flashed by. One by one they were being overthrown. The screen switched back to Axel with a smug smile on his face. “Christina Gibbins: I think you lost.”

  I couldn’t help but break into joyful laughter. Our plan had worked. People were earning their place on Earth back. Everyone in the community cheered and hugged and toasted. The common area quickly became a small party where people walked around and congratulated each other and talked about what they’d seen. I sauntered over to the brothers, who now stood with Jane and Smith. Smith looked at me with kind eyes. “What’s next?”

  “Gun. Gun for whatever else is out there. Gun for our place in this universe. Right?” I shifted my attention to both brothers.

  Phillip answered my call to arms. “Let’s gun for it.” He winked.

  “Gun for it,” Ross agreed.

  “Gun for it.” Jane added her vote.

  “Gun for it,” Smith replied. “I’m not playing the bad guy this time, though.”

  “Smith, you’ll do whatever we need.” I rolled my eyes and shot him a playful glance.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He laughed.

  The End

  Hey, Heather here. I hope you enjoyed the books as much as I enjoyed writing them. As a beginning author, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review on Amazon and then hit ‘follow’ on my Amazon page so you are notified each time I publish a new book. I’ll be working on my craft and stories to make them even better so I hope you are along for the ride! Thank you again.