Chaos Tactics (The Reckless Chronicles Book 1)

by Trent Falls

  John was frozen again by the memory. That chamber! That was where he had last seen Noah Bradley. It was the room that had been haunting his dreams for years.

  He was there!

  The group filed into the spacious chamber. The space was vast. It seemed to defy the laws of physics and architectural principle. The entire back wall, about fifty or sixty meters wide, was completely open to the outside. There were no central columns or retaining walls. The massive black granite chamber seemed to only be separated by the mountain rock at the back of the chamber. The chamber seemed like it should collapse under its own weight.

  John and Julie again retained a low profile. They remained near the back of the chamber, close to the exit. John found his eyes searching. His memory skipped around, trying to place images with places.

  Alex and Lyle walked out further into the chamber with familiar confidence. They were the Norn. They had nothing to fear in the chamber.

  Euler followed Alex and Lyle and moved towards the front of the pack as they filed into the chamber. Captain Shin and Zao walked a few steps in but also remained close to the back. They stood a few feet away from Julie and John. Shin, for his part, tried to remain the visible personification of calm. He pulled at his jacket once and rubbed its fabric. Agrev was far more bold, walking out several steps behind Alex towards the center of the room. Hedges followed but stopped short a few paces behind his boss. Argev came to a stop as well as Alex and Lyle turned around.

  “So.” Agrev inhaled, taking a good look around the dark rock of the chamber. “Your boss is here then?” Agrev was skeptical as there was clearly no one outside of their group waiting for them in the chamber.

  “They are here.” Alex’s eyes glowed silver white. His voice echoed telepathically to all around him.

  Nothing happened at first. The room was very still. Alex and Lyle, their eyes still glowing, remained standing apart; facing the group as though guarding some unseen force. Agrev got a bit unnerved at the sight of Alex and Lyle. The Xen Councilor took a few steps back sensing something was about to happen.

  Euler remained standing out front as Agrev retreated past him.

  It took a few minutes for those gathered in the room to notice. It appeared as caloric waves at first. Three spots in the room began to waver as though from superheated air. The room, however, remained quite cool. The caloric waves grew more intense; more visible. Slowly they began to take shape. They wavered. They assumed some color at points. Eventually the three points developed better resolution. They took shape – with forms that slowly began to resemble human beings. There seemed to be a slow flash in the room, as though the bright sunlight outside had been reflected inward for a few seconds to sweep across the group.

  From the light three figures emerged.

  They were each dressed in long white tunic overcoats. Tall ivory boots and belts accented their garb. Iridescent silver frames stretched over their shoulders to hold their white robe-like tunics in place. Each carried a long staff at their right sides as they walked out of the light. The humanoid on the left was a woman with long dark hair. Noah Bradley was on the right. John stared at Noah, who’s young face hadn’t aged at all in the last dozen or so years. Noah’s eyes flashed back at John in a silvery glow.

  Scott Euler watched in sheer awe. He nearly fell to his knees at the sight of these gods! Extraterrestrial life! He was finally there! This was his dream!

  The man in the center was bald and had hints of an inhuman appearance. Some of his features were smoothed out, like the line where his upper ears met his skull and at his brow. His skin was very slightly tanned and seemed devoid of imperfections. His eyes glowed. He turned his head slowly to look directly at John. His eyes dimmed slowly, returning to a normal deep blue color.

  “My name is Taos.” The bald man’s voice reverberated in their heads and through the dark granite chamber. “I am the appointed representative of this planet for the collective you call the Norn.”

  Agrev was dumbstruck. His jaw shook. He struggled to take a step towards Taos, moving past Euler who was frozen. Agrev forced himself with great effort to try and speak.

  “I am High Councilor Marcus Agrev of the Xen.” The bureaucrat finally spoke. He felt like he should have been bowing. He imagined that was what it was like to talk to God. “We come here… in peace. We come here seeking knowledge.”

  “Knowledge?” Taos echoed the word loudly in response. “Yet you have two heavily armed warships in this system, one in orbit of this planet.”

  Agrev was stuck for a moment for a response. “Our vessels are built for… war… yes, but I assure you we come here in peace.”

  Taos stared down Argev for a moment. His piercing gaze itself was almost condescending. His attention remained fixed on a silent Agrev for a while until he slowly turned to look at John again.

  “I recognize you.” Taos spoke directly to John. “You were asked never to return here. You were told there would be dire consequences.”

  “I… uh, I’m not sure… what you’re talking about.” John forced the words out, all the while forcing himself to try and keep eye contact with Taos.

  “We erased your memory of the prior event.” Taos explained. “You weren’t supposed to have any recollection of this place, yet you led these people here.” Taos’ tone grew accusatory.

  “His memory erasure was imperfect.” Alex stepped towards Taos from the side. “We underestimated several key electrochemical aspects to the human brain. John suffers from severe post traumatic stress. The chemical changes scarred into his brain seem to have created a pathway for the repressed memories to come forward. A bridge.”

  Taos held his gaze on John. He seemed to be psychically scanning him. John didn’t feel it at first but began to suspect something as he felt an uneasy tingle deep in his brain. It was an odd sensation to say the least to almost feel someone poking around in his skull.

  “I understand.” Taos said in confirmation. “I was in error. We should have accounted for this.”

  “There’s no way we could have known.” Noah spoke up. His voice too seemed to echo in the mind as well as the dark granite chamber.

  “Well it’s good to know even the gods can make a mistake.” John found the joke escaping from his mouth.

  “We are not gods, Mister Carn.” Taos noted quickly. “We are, in many ways, like you.” Taos took a step to the side.

  “We know you contacted our ancestors.” Agrev spoke. “There’s been a long standing myth amongst the Xen that your people helped to give us warp drive. That you allowed the human race access to the stars.”

  “A mistake we’ve long regretted.” Taos replied with sincere disappointment.

  “So it’s true!” Shin spoke in shock.

  “Yes.” Taos answered. “A hundred and twenty or so years ago, your years, we decided to help humanity leave the cradle of their home on Earth. We had been among you for centuries by that time, observing and taking notes on your species. We were galactic anthropologists.” Taos’ demeanor changed suddenly. He glowed with pride and smiled broadly. “You can’t imagine how surprised we were to discover your species. It was like finding a long distant cousin. We thought you to be a kindred species - an unknown or forgotten offshoot. Perhaps the life on your world began from microbes transplanted from one of our destroyed worlds. Or life very well may have evolved independently along a parallel course on your planet where, visually and genetically, you resembled our species. Whatever the case, we had to know the answers. We lived among you, sometimes recruiting from you species as was the case with my compatriots here.” Taos gestured to all of the other Norn standing around him.

  “They’re all human?” Zao asked, pointing to the female. “Even her?”

  “All human, Lieutenant Zao.” Taos answered, having gleaned Zao’s name from his mind.

  “I remember you!” John noted sharply to the female Norn. “You were here when we brought Noah up here! You stopped those rock creatures from killing us! I can’t re
call… your name is…”

  “Elizabeth.” The dark haired female Norn answered.

  “Interesting how he doesn’t remember her but he remembers us.” Noah stated.

  “Elizabeth wasn’t in the room when we cleared their minds.” Alex explained. “John didn’t remember me either. He only knows me from the friendship we developed after I was implanted into their society.”

  “Can his mind be cleared again?” Taos asked Alex, gesturing towards John indirectly.

  “I’m not sure. The damage to his psyche is deep.” Alex answered.

  “Clear our minds?!?” Julie spoke up.

  Agrev turned his head sharply to glare at Julie. He wondered how this girl didn’t know her place.

  “She deserves to be here more than you do.” Elizabeth shot a scornful expression at Agrev, having read his mind.

  Agrev spun around to look at Elizabeth, as did Zao and Shin.

  “Look at what you’ve done with this beautiful gift of superluminal travel.” Elizabeth continued bitterly. “You waged war with your own species. A war that left tens of millions of humans dead!”

  “This is our greatest disappointment.” Taos shook his head. “We began a dialogue with a few people on your planet. We assessed approaching various governments as your world was quickly dying. In the end we chose elements within the Chinese leadership as their sense of community and social equality seemed more aligned with our own philosophies.”

  “The Chinese? Really?” Euler finally spoke. “At the time, I mean, they were nothing more than cutthroat capitalists disguised as socialists.”

  “The academic forms of your governments didn’t matter to us.” Taos replied. “All

  that we could base decisions on were actions. Certainly, many of the other ‘civilized’ nations of your world at the time, including the United States, seemed only interested in avarice, attained in many instances at the expense of humane treatment of your fellow humans. We weren’t interested in dealing with those who would barter their souls for treasure. In the end, though, we must admit we were misled somewhat. Those who wanted our technology made great promises. A child will make promises to behave if there is a new toy dangled before them.”

  “Interesting how you keep referring to us as children.” Shin noted.

  “You are.” Noah Bradley answered him directly.

  Shin smirked back at Noah. Even though he didn’t like being insulted a part of

  Shin knew he was right.

  “The Xen began as a multinational movement on Earth.” Euler pressed. “How did that happen?”

  “We eventually included a few Americans, a few Europeans, some Russians. We wanted the Xen pilgrims to represent the best of your society” Taos answered. “In the end we realized that we couldn’t rely on one government to comply with our wishes. We wanted to promote a more harmonious society within your species, but this couldn’t be done on Earth. Your governments were too set in their ways. They were unable and unwilling to change. We shared faster-than-light technology with a few key people on your planet. In reality they were quite close to achieving the goal but a few pieces were missing. The Norn simply nudged you along. Several ships were constructed in the Gobi desert. A recruitment process was developed among the leaders of the movement. They brought in many of the first pilgrims into the new community without telling them the truth of our existence.”

  “Strange!” Shin breathed. “You’re talking about the beginning of my people as though it’s trivial information.”

  “Nothing about this is trivial, Captain Shin.” Taos answered him. “We watched the Xen advance as well. Your beginnings were promising, but you too fell into the trap of violence. Your first colony and eventual home planet was designed much better and cleaner than your Earth counterparts, but that society too degraded. Rather than work together with your Terran ancestors you went to war with them.”

  “They invaded our colonies.” Lieutenant Zao noted. “They began laying claim to our resources.”

  “Resources that were plentiful. Resources that you could have expanded quite easily by working together.” Taos addressed Zao sternly. “No. Your war was about power. Don’t try and disguise that fact. We’ve been among your people for decades as well. We know the truth.” Taos walked away a few steps while continuing to speak. “In the end our disappointment with the Xen was too severe not to act. We erased ourselves from the memories of your founders and washed out hands of the Xen.”

  “That’s why no one in the High Council can validate your existence!” Agrev noted with loud clarity. Part of the mystery had been revealed.

  “Yes. We had such hopes for your people.” Taos replied with a tone of disappointment. “In the end your people didn’t change. You remain as barbaric as you have been for centuries.”

  “So you brought us here to lecture us? Is that it?” Agrev stated forcefully. “Incredible! And here I thought that contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence would be more… profound. I feel as though I’m being berated by my father.”

  Taos took a step towards Agrev. Agrev, suddenly under the powerful shadow of the Norn leader, seemed to want to take a step back.

  “This is of the utmost importance to your species, Mister Agrev!” Taos said forcefully, glancing at John for a moment. “When he left us we issued him a warning that the Norn were seriously considering rectifying the error of giving humankind hyperdrive.”

  “Rectify?” Euler asked aloud. “How would you go about that?”

  “By eliminating your entire species.” Taos turned to look at Euler. “The quality that you call ‘human nature’ has spread like an infection from your planet to the Xen homeworld and out through your colony systems. You strip planets of resources. You wage war against one another. You pollute the environments of these worlds, pushing out indigenous lifeforms in your expansion. All of this has caused the Norn much concern. While you are still far in distance from our civilization, the threat your species presents may create problems in the future, particularly for other life forms just outside of your domain. For that reason alone there are those among the Norn who would eliminate the problem before any other innocent life is affected.”

  “Eliminate all humanity?” Euler noted in shock. “You’re serious? You would kill ALL humans to keep our so called bad behavior from spreading?” Euler couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He grinned broadly as though it were all a joke.

  “He is serious, Scott.” John spoke out in a gravely serious tone. “I remember now. I remember all of it.”

  Shin and Zao took a step back. Though the Norn had actually done nothing threatening yet the Ao Shun’s captain was immediately concerned for his ship. Zao’s eyes went from Elizabeth to Taos as he took another step back. He watched them for any sudden moves. The pistol holstered at Zao’s right side seemed incredibly distant from his right hand.

  “We do not intend to use violence.” Taos said to Zao in a reassuring tone.

  “Get out of my head!” Zao grunted back.

  “This is how we communicate.” Elizabeth said to Zao indirectly; her eyes glowing silver white.

  “We came here for more.” Euler stepped toward Taos unexpectedly. There was a restrained tone of disappointment in his voice. “We came to prove to you we could be better. Our species could… learn so much from yours!”

  “You came here to try and gain access to more of our technology.” Taos spoke directly to Scott. “You killed so many in hopes to get your way. Did you think it would be so easy to acquire that knowledge? That we’d leave behind our devices carelessly for anyone to find?”

  Scott Euler stared blankly for a moment. He then shook his head slightly. “This isn’t what I expected, no. This isn’t how it should have been.”

  Scott’s eyes turned downward, visibly disappointed. He tried to consider other options but the fact that Taos and the Norn could read his mind felt suddenly terrifying.

  “Knowledge is attained through discipline and introspection.” Taos sai
d loudly to the group, echoing in their thoughts. “We were surprised that your species didn’t annihilate itself with atomic weapons. This fact offered us some encouragement to help you move forward but we see now that this was a terrible mistake.”

  Taos, walking with his staff, took a few steps away.

  “Your minds will be erased of this incident save one of you. That person will carry our message to your people – that your immediate survival depends on your ability to behave ‘humanely’.” Taos noted aloud.

  “And who will that person be?” John stepped forward. He felt he knew the answer before even asking.

  Taos turned back around and looked directly at Julie.

  “Her.” Taos answered.

  “No, listen! Please!” John pleaded. “Leave her out of this! We didn’t want to be here anyway. She didn’t ask to be here.”

  “Yet she is here.” Taos responded.

  “Let me take the message.” John asked – his concern paternal. “Don’t leave her with this burden. She’s been through enough. This is too much to ask of her.”

  “Uncle John. I’m fine.” Julie interrupted in calm protest.

  John’s head spun back around towards her. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Jules. If you convince the ESA that you’re legitimately giving them a warning from an extraterrestrial species they’ll put you in a glass box and never let you out.”

  “Your child will not be harmed.” Taos assured him.

  “It’s a mistake. They’ll never believe her anyway.” John protested. “Let me give them the message! Please!”

  “It is already decided.” Taos said aloud, his words echoing through the dark granite chamber and in their minds.

  Taos’ eyes began to glow. Elizabeth, Noah Bradley, Lyle Ramirez, and Alex all adjusted their stances. Their eyes began to glow brightly as well.

  Philip Hedges took another frightened step back. He decided that he had heard enough. As the light from the Norns’ eyes grew brighter he pulled out his .380 pistol from beneath his jacket.

  “NO!” Agrev shouted out upon seeing Hedges’ move.