The Human Chrinicles Box Set 4

by T. R. Harris

  “I regret that I am within three cycles of losing my challenge privileges, otherwise I would be going with you. And now the time is growing near.”

  “I leave tomorrow for the Compressor point back to Nuor. There I will meet my fleet. Yet be comforted, Team-Master, you will see me again a few days later.”

  Falon nodded. “Indeed, yet as only a streak of light within a computer simulation as you pass the station on your way to the Kac. Is your strategy developing as planned?”

  “Yes. The conference we have been monitoring is on schedule. It is an opportunity to jump stages that must not be lost. The impact on the Kac will be substantial, setting up contests far in advance of our earlier projections.”

  “This is good news. Again, I envy your opportunity.”

  “I must report a curious bit of information I received only moments ago.”

  Falon frowned. “What information?”

  “Have you ever heard of a single alien gaining the rank of top player within a galaxy?”

  “I have not, yet our experience is only within the Suponac. As much as I can recall, no individual being has been scored as such, even among the Nuor. Some of the Grand-Masters would come close, yet no single GM has acquired such a distinction. Is that the case within the Kac?”

  “Yes, a creature named Adam Cain.”

  “Is this a monster of some sort, ninety shoulders high and with breath of fire?”

  Daric laughed, not out of humor but concern. “That is not the case. The images of his race show them to be of similar size and structure as us.”

  “A master tactician then, using intelligence and strategy to overcome other deficiencies.”

  “His race does not control the largest of the empires in the Kac, so I cannot speak to his intelligence, yet you may be correct. I am anxious to learn the truth.”

  The gold eyes of Falon bore into his younger blood relative. “I smell fear within you, Daric. That disturbs me.”

  “It is not true fear, rather apprehension. One should never underestimate an opponent.”

  Falon’s eyes grew wide. “You plan on challenging this creature yourself!” He took a step back. “Take care, my friend. Not all creatures can be defeated in a standard combat challenge. You may require team assistance, especially against such a formidable foe.”

  “Then he will be allowed a team of his own.”

  “Those are the rules. Does he have one to call upon?”

  Daric nodded. “I have been told so, a small one.”

  “Then when the time comes, choose your players carefully. First-level immunity challenges are not like team challenges. They are to the death.”

  Daric scowled. “That I know, Falon. I have participated in my share of death contests in the past.”

  Falon placed a hand on Daric’s shoulder. “As I am aware, and that is why you command the invasion fleet. Yet this is a new galaxy. With all other past death challenges, we have known the opposing alien species intimately. You will not have that advantage in the Kac. You will learn as the game progresses.”

  Daric stood straighter and smiled. “That is what makes this contest so exciting. It will be a true test of the individual, as well as of the race. It is why the games were designed in the beginning. I welcome the challenge.”

  Concern now filled the eyes of Falon. “Then make sure you return to tell me tales of your alien games. I wish to experience your glory vicariously, not posthumously.”

  43

  “I hate playing games!” Adam Cain exclaimed.

  He was frustrated. Sherri had just dropped a building on his advanced squad and now his lead character was racing for his life along a path of shattered debris. Her forces were gaining, the end inevitable.

  He pulled the virtual reality shield from his face, ending the game. “Why have these things become so damn complicated?” Adam lifted his hands, each fingertip and thumb capped by what looked like miniature latex condoms. Gone were the multi-function control consoles of yesteryear, replaced now by the ten tiny sensors. Every movement translated into an action within the game. Not only that, but each combination of fingers and thumbs meant something else. It wasn’t hard to move his fingers; the skill came from knowing what each of the thousand specific motions meant within the game.

  This new generation of video game was all the rage, and Sherri Valentine was a natural at it. Adam had lost count of the number of games she’d won in a row. Now playing her was nothing but an incredible waste of time.

  Adam pouted. “You were never this good before, so why now?”

  Sherri grinned, her face animated, framed in a brilliant flow of wavy blond hair, her blues eyes bright and alive. She held up her hands and spread her fingers, each wearing the white rubber control sensors. She wiggled them. “It must be the six years of piano lessons I had growing up. The key is having separate left and right hand actions going on at the same time. You move in only one dimension. I can move in two…or more. Buddy, you ain’t got a chance against me.”

  “No shit. But I still prefer the real thing, and not some made-up scenario with players doing things not even humanly possible.”

  “And you’re very good at it, too, sweetie. Just in your games, real people die.”

  “Not people, Sherri, aliens…mostly.”

  She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I stand corrected. Yes, Adam Cain, you kill aliens…mostly.”

  Riyad Tarazi grunted. “I hope you won’t be playing that game on Formil. That would be rude.”

  Now Sherri pouted. “Even if I wanted to, it looks like no one will play with me anymore.”

  Riyad had already learned his lesson about going up against Sherri Valentine in Star Blaster IV. Now it was Adam’s turn. He lasted half the time Riyad had before calling it quits.

  “It’s your own fault,” Adam snapped. “You should have gone easier on us.”

  Sherri snorted. “Gone easier on you? I was…dickhead!”

  “Wonder how she’d do against Lila?” Riyad asked, a sinister tone to his voice.

  Adam perked up. “Now that’s an idea. I’d like to see that too.”

  “Apples to apples, guys. Let’s keep it fair. I ain’t playing no immortal alien mutant genius, even if she is your daughter, Mr. Cain.”

  “She’s only half-alien.”

  “Yeah, the better half.”

  The trio was on their way to Formil to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Lila’s appointment as the leader of the Expansion. In all honestly, it hadn’t been an appointment; Lila simply took over. After Adam and his team crushed the Juirean command structure, a tremendous void was left in the galactic power structure. Lila, having grown impatient with all the wars and conflicts taking place, had had enough. She pronounced herself the boss, and then challenged anyone to oppose her. None did. By then the galaxy knew of her powers and seeming immortality, through an ability to spontaneously regenerate all the cells in her body. After the chaos of the Sol-Kor years and the Juireans’ desperate attempt to remain relevant, most of the galaxy welcomed the imposed stability Lila offered.

  She turned out to be a just and thoughtful leader. Besides her immortality, she also carried the highest intellect in the Milky Way. Her decisions were more-deliberate and long-term than any before, and as a result, the galaxy was on the path to a time of peace and prosperity like never before.

  To Adam, it was about time. He’d had his fill of heroics and was now looking forward to some quiet leisure time with his friends and extended family.

  They were traveling to Formil in a borrowed luxury-class starship, reserved for only the most-wealthy on Earth. Most of the attendees of the celebration were coming in commercial craft such as this. Since the waging of war was on its way out under Lila’s rule, showing up in a massive warship of one kind or another was considered very uncool.

  As Adam and his friends entered the Formilian star system, they began to merge with the traffic pattern of thousands of other ships heading for the planet. I
t was time to put away the game and prepare for landing—even though the automatic pilot system was capable of doing it without Human assistance. Adam liked flying the advanced starship, so he took the controls anyway. Sherri slipped into the second seat, while Riyad sat in the plush owner’s seat, content to let the others do all the work.

  The space around Formil was littered with starships, mainly from the minor races in the Expansion without landing privileges. A fleet of tiny atmospheric shuttles zipped between the vessels, gathering attendees for the ride to the surface.

  The three Humans had direct landing clearance.

  As they made their descent toward the capital city of Vull, where the Temple Complex was located, they could see the results of Lila’s new-found authority spreading across the landscape. The city had trebled in size in only a year as the seat of galactic government shifted to the planet. The Grand Temple was now lost in a forest of taller structures, many still under construction, housing the bureaucracy that went along with command. There were over eight thousand worlds in the Expansion, and nearly every one of them wanted their own presence close to Lila. The alien invasion of Formil was only just beginning.

  Adam had seen the videos and read the reports about how his daughter was able to conduct upwards of a hundred meetings per day without appearing the slightest bit exhausted or skipping a beat with her grasp of each individual subject or concern. The only limiting factor seemed to be the endurance of her subjects. They came to her with well-rehearsed presentations and demands, all of which Lila sorted through with lightning speed, rendering decisions and verdicts in seconds flat. Her words often left others speechless, since she understood the data they were presenting far better than they did. More often than not, they would simply nod and gather up their datapads to leave without rebuttal. There was no point arguing with genius.

  It appeared that the galaxy had finally found an entity capable of governing something so large and complex. The Juireans had tried, as had the Humans. Both found the task overwhelming and destructive of their very identity and individuality. A galaxy was simply too big to be ruled by mere mortals. It took a demi-god to do it right.

  All this made daddy-Adam extremely proud, although he knew he had very little to do with Lila’s abilities. For that matter, neither did her mother, Arieel Bol, the Speaker of the Formilian people. Lila was a mutant, simply a fortuitous mistake of genetics across interspecies lines. She couldn’t have been planned, and none of her incredible greatness could be traced to her parents. It was something different, something more miraculous.

  Of course Adam wasn’t going to admit this to his friends. Instead he often boasted how he had helped spawn the leader of a galaxy. He was going to take all the credit he could for the act.

  And being one of the parents of a demi-god did have its benefits….

  The executive starship was given immediate clearance to land at the Temple spaceport, in a spot near the main gate, and with an entourage of dignitaries waiting to escort them to Lila’s new digs. She was housed in a shimmering skyscraper, towering fifty stories high, with the surrounding grounds still receiving the final touches before the festivities began. The coming celebration had given the contractors a deadline, and many were still scrambling to meet it.

  Lila’s government headquarters and residence was just beyond the boundary of the old Complex, a quarter mile from the Grand Temple, where her mother resided. The Formilians had insisted on making Lila’s home one of the most-elaborate on the planet. Although Lila didn’t care about any of this, the native population got a kick out of advertising the fact that one of their own was the HMIC—the Head-Mutant-In-Charge.

  High Celebrant Trimen O’lac was on the tarmac outside the ship when Adam and the others disembarked. He was the head of the Temple Order and Arieel’s official mate, and for a while was believed to be Lila’s father. That was old news by now, and it surprised Adam how accepting the galaxy—and Trimen—had been when the truth came out. To most it seemed appropriate. Arieel Bol was often referred to as the most beautiful Prime in the Milky Way, while Adam was its most-celebrated and accomplished warrior. Why wouldn’t the two of them produce a super-being?

  For his part, Trimen had accepted this new reality. Adam could tell he loved both Arieel and Lila and with probably more depth than he did. After all, they were Formilians, all except the bastard half of Lila that shared some of Adam’s primitive Human DNA.

  With the ability to alter her biology at will, Adam seriously doubted Lila shared any of his or Arieel’s blood by now. How she was able to do this was incomprehensible to him, so whenever such thoughts invaded his mind, he did his best to dismiss them. He couldn’t change things, even if he wanted.

  “Welcome, Adam Cain,” said Trimen O’lac. The alien was nearly eighty in equivalent-Human years, yet he had the physique of a twenty-something fitness model, tanned, thin-waisted and barrel-chested. His jaw was square, his blue eyes almost hypnotic in their brilliance. In other words, he was just your average Formilian male, just as Arieel was considered a five on a planet full of hunks and babes.

  “Trimen, you’re looking well.” The two males—who had once been competitors for the affections of Arieel Bol—clasped forearms in the traditional Formilian form of greeting.

  “As are you, my friend.”

  Trimen looked over Adam’s shoulder at Sherri. He heard her inhale deeply when the alien’s eyes fell upon her. The initial reaction was always the same. Adam grinned.

  “Sherri Valentine, as always you are a study in radiance and stunning beauty. I welcome you as well.”

  Trimen chose to hug Sherri rather than grasp arms. He did it for Adam’s benefit, knowing how the Human female would react to his touch. The alien was aware of Adam and Sherri’s past relationships, and this was his not-so-subtle way of getting back at Adam for his affair with Arieel. Both relationships—with Sherri and Arieel—were long over, yet still there was a tightening of Adam’s gut seeing Sherri blush and her eyes flutter as Trimen took her in his arms.

  “Riyad Tarazi, I am glad to have you here for this special occasion as well,” Trimen said, completing his greetings. “If you will all join me in the transport, Arieel and Lila are anxious to see you again. No need to take any personal items. All will be provided as our honored guests.”

  Adam could sense the presence of Trimen’s automatic telepathy device—his ATD; he had retained it after their last adventure. This showed how much Formilian culture had changed recently, that a male could now possess their so-called Gift from the Gods, a device traditionally reserved for only the Speaker and her female offspring. Arieel carried one embedded under her skin, as did Adam. Lila didn’t need one to do what the device could do—and so much more.

  As the caravan pulled out of the spaceport and traveled along the road skirting the tall, whitewashed wall of the Temple Complex, Adam mentioned all the changes that had come to the planet.

  “Yes, there are,” Trimen agreed, “yet not as many as one would expect from the seat of a galactic government. Lila requires not the scope of support others would. On her own she can fully research any subject with much more speed and efficiently than could a thousand assistants. She also doesn’t require the security apparatus, considering the futility of any personal harm coming her way. I am still amazed at all she can accomplish in a day—as well as all she had achieved over this past year. Even with all that, she did not want this celebration initially, but was convinced it was more for the good of her subjects than for her. She has also confided in me that she now welcomes the celebration as a way to see you again, Adam. She has missed you considerably.”

  Adam choked up. “I…I appreciate you telling me that, Trimen. Damn….”

  Sherri was smiling at him. “Awe, big bad Adam Cain actually has a heart. Who would have known?”

  “That’s news to me,” Riyad added. “I’ve always found him to be an insufferable asshole.”

  “Oh, he’s that too,” Sherri said.

  �
�Knock it off you two,” Adam mock-scolded. “Try to maintain some decorum while we’re in the presence of royalty—and the father of said royalty. Don’t forget, with a snap of my fingers—”

  “What, you can have us locked in chains?” Sherri interrupted.

  “No. But I can arrange for a game of Star Blaster IV between you and Lila.”

  “I do not understand this conversation,” Trimen said, crevasses now furrowing his tanned forehead.

  Adam laughed, leaving Trimen to wallow in his confusion. It was like this with most Human-Alien interactions, even with old friends. Humans were confusing creatures to most others in the galaxy. Adam liked it that way. It usually gave him an advantage, especially when encountering a race for the first time.

  He spent the remainder of the short trip looking out the window, hoping the images outside would help distract him from the nervousness building up inside. How would he react when reunited with the alluring Arieel Bol? He was about to find out.

  The ground floor of the massive government building was packed with exotic creatures of every form, along with elaborate decorations and an air of excitement and anticipation. It seemed every day more and more of the galaxy came to accept that they were entering a new paradigm and that nothing but good times awaited them. And all thanks to Lila Bol.

  A path was cleared for the dignitaries. To his chagrin, Adam could feel the eyes upon him, as he was recognized by hundreds of aliens, not only for his military accomplishments, but also for his now-revealed contribution to this new era of galactic unity. He was embarrassed; he always was in these situations. He’d never sought celebrity. He simply did what he had to do and let the chips fall where they may. He was glad when they entered a large elevator and the doors closed, taking them on a ride up to the royal suite.

  Lila and Arieel were waiting for them. Ignoring protocol, the voluptuous alien female rushed forward, past her daughter, and into the arms of Adam Cain. By now he knew the pheromones excreted by the Formilians—both male and female—were some of the strongest in the galaxy. That explained part of the reaction most Primes had to the natives, but not all. Arieel was also drop-dead gorgeous.