Terrineia

by Brian Whiting

  Copyright © 2019 by Brian Whiting

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This series is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  1st Edition

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  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

  Message to the Reader :

  I have written this series in such a way that I do not spend time rehashing what happened in the previous books. If you haven’t read the previous books, then you are… starting a movie half way through, so to speak, and a lot of things that have happened to our characters might not make sense to you.

  Short Recap:

  Book 3 ends with Alex stranded on an unknown planet after his ship is catastrophically damaged by the enemy A.I.’s attack. There he meets Alesti, a woman he has unknowingly saved when his ship crash landed on top of her attackers. But now Alesti thinks he’s a savior from her God, sent in answer to the desperate life offering vow she uttered only moments before her attackers are crushed.

  Info for the reader:

  At new chapters or new scenes *** I’ll label a Point of view shift if other than Alex.

  CHAPTER 1

  WILSON !

  (Alex)

  ALEX FELL BACKWARD on his butt as the woman disappeared into the mangled corridor. He thought to chase her but then decided that might be pointless. Instead he looked around for something he could use to remove himself from his EVA suit. There was no lack of sharp debris like objects nearby. But his cabin was not the engineering bay, which he hoped wasn’t crushed on deck three. The cabin was starting to warm up and within his EVA suit Alex began to sweat. He knew he had to remove the suit, but because it was badly damaged, he couldn’t remove it normally. What he really needed were some cutters to remove the broken metal collar from around his neck.

  Facing a lack of options he cut into his suit with a piece of debris, removing as much fabric from his suit as possible. Starting at his waist, he cut off the lower portion of the suit, the most difficult part was cutting through some of the thick wiring. Now the lower portion was cut away, he was able to simply lift off the upper portion over his head.

  As he tossed the remnants of his EVA suit against the far wall, then he heard the clang of metal on metal from down the corridor. He took a quick peek but saw nothing. Satisfied the woman wasn’t nearby he went to his closet and fumbled with the closet door until he decided the best option was to remove it entirely. Considering the still rising temperature, he put on his uniform without the jacket. While he was tieing his boots he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

  “My name is Alex, I will not harm you.” He pretended to be disinterested and continued tieing his boots. He didn’t directly see her but he knew she was there.

  “Chay ti mihg nimi pos ko not.”

  “Right.”

  Alex reached into his desk and grabbed a bottle of water he knew should still be there. He quickly emptied half of it.

  “Wayna… wayna.” The woman approached Alex with an outstretched arm.

  Alex tossed the bottle to the woman. She then tried to drink the water with the top still on.

  “No..no you got to remove the cap first.”

  The woman shock the bottle harshly but nothing happened. Alex stood up and slowly approached the woman. With an outstretched arm he received the water bottle from the woman and removed the cap then returned the bottle to her. She drank the water slowly at first and then gulped the rest of it.

  “Qualnosh.” She whispered her eyes intently focused on Alex now.

  The woman was of similar height to Alex, dirt covered her skin and much of her hair which he could tell was a deep brown color. The hair appeared to be very thin, but in abundance. He focused on the bone or cartilage crest that started at the ear and circled around the entire back of her head to the other side. It appeared to be firm and unforgiving. The ears, while in a human anatomical position, were not similar in appearance. These ears looked more like deep half circles about two inches tall and melded into the bone crest. The remainder of her looked very familiar, three fingers and a thumb instead of four, arm and leg lengths proportional. Her teeth seemed more like one complete upper tooth and one lower tooth. The color was not uniform white, more like a faint swirl of white and grey.

  Her garment was obviously torn, but it appeared to be a dress that started at her shoulders and included fabric for her arms, torn at the chest, revealing some kind of full piece undergarment, in its present condition it looked a lot like thick shorts caked with mud.

  Alex thought of Symboli hidden in his room, from her position she could not have seen the green container of the digiform and Alex saw no reason to reveal its existence right now. Instead he looked over the contents of the crate and made sure the woman wouldn’t step closer to him. He was glad to discover one of the connectors between the tank and the wireless transmitter was disconnected. As soon as he reconnected them he spoke.

  “Symboli, can you hear me?”

  But there was no response, then it occurred to him that he was not wearing the headset and it was still attached to his helmet he left on the bridge.

  Just then the woman forcefully took a deep breathe in, which caught his attention. He waited for the exhale but it never came. Looking around his cabin there wasn’t anything else he really wanted. He closed the crate and slid it back under his bed for he could think of no better location at the moment. The lights in his cabin flickered momentarily.

  “I’m going back to the bridge, you’re welcome to come with.” Alex said knowing she wouldn’t understand.

  The woman didn’t say anything in response but when she noticed Alex approaching her she stepped well out of his way as he re-entered the corridor and headed back towards the bridge. Without the EVA suit on it was much easier to get there.

  “Pas nip chia ha.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to the bridge.” Alex mused without looking back at her.

  Moments later he was on the bridge searching for his helmet. Finally, he found it in a corner it had rolled into, thanks to the angle of the ship. Retrieving it, he carefully detached the headset from the helmet and put it on.

  “Greeting, Alex, congratulations on our survival, I had calculated a statistically impossible chance of surviving the alien encounter.” Symboli said with his familiar and ever calm voice.

  “What happened?”

  “Recall that our enemy is mainly composed of two varieties of pill shaped ships. While you were on the alien ship, sensors recorded several ships approach from over the horizon. We managed to get off the planet just as they entered engagement range. One of the ship types carrying bots was destroyed in our path out to orbit. I believe one or two bots survived the des
truction of its ship and clung to our hull and began a series of cuts to reduce hull integrity. We entered FTL and plotted a course home. However, the bots entered the ship and caused more havoc severing the FTL assembly. The ships unjoined while in FTL transit, when the FTL bubble collapsed the Dauntless was nowhere to be seen, and this planets gravity had already caught us, our current location is unknown, sensors were down when we came out of FTL and we crashed on this planet.”

  “I believe one bot was destroyed during reentry into the atmosphere. However, if there were two bots, I am unsure of its location or condition.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Surprisingly several of the Hermes systems remain intact, internal sensors are partially operational. I have reviewed the recorded conversations that have taken place with your local inhabitant and am piecing together a translation program, we are very far from a fluent translation. The battery array still holds seven percent power. One CO2 scrubber is still operational on deck two. There is no pressure to any of the internal plumbing. No tactical systems are operational, external sensors are not operational -”

  “Skip ahead to the subspace transmitter, what’s our chance of rescue?”

  “The transmitter was the first equipment to be destroyed by the bots before FTL collapse.”

  “Fabricator?”

  “Unresponsive and likely crushed as its located on deck three. There is a fire in the cargo bay. There is a moderate chance the fire will consume the entire ship. You do not have the means to put the fire out at this time.”

  “So, we have to evacuate.” Alex looked at the floor in defeat. He observed the feet of the female with him. They each appeared to be wrapped with a intricate web of leather. ‘Their version of a shoe,’ he thought to himself.

  “I am detecting more individuals entering the ship at this time, they are armed with primitive weapons.”

  “Armory?” Alex asked more out of a reflex.

  “Likely crushed on deck three. However, there should be one armament located behind the tactical display screen.” Alex quickly went over to what was left of the tactical console and tried to pry the thing open. It would have been easy to open the tiny door at the bottom of the console if it hadn’t been twisted in the crash. Instead, he ended up grabbing a piece of thick broken conduit and began bashing the console repeatedly from the top.

  He was startled when the woman began bashing the console with him with another piece of debris. She was having no effect and she was hitting the wrong part but Alex chuckled to himself, she was obviously trying to help him and was amused at her method.

  “They have accessed deck one and are slowly approaching your position.”

  Alex began hitting the display screen harder and harder until it was completely shattered. Finally, he removed the display screen from the console. Then he placed the conduit into the gaping hole he had just made and applied his body weight for leverage. The console finally opened up from the inside.

  Another alien, probably male, appeared in the doorway to the bridge with a long spear, behind him came another one with what appeared to be a bow and arrow.

  The female spoke quietly and started backing up, moving behind Alex.

  “She appears to be frightened by the men.” Symboli suggested.

  “Yeah, I got that.” Alex had his hands up, palms open.

  “My name is Alex, I ask that you please leave my ship, you are not welcome.”

  “Drook pis ca ra torna dok.” The male said.

  “Sha cal siff nor da pace keet.” The female replied.

  The male seemed to chuckle and grinned widely.

  “Seems laughter and smiling are a universal concept.” Symboli said.

  “Really.” Alex responded with deep sarcasm.

  Alex lowered his hands slowly allowing one of them to descend into the now open console.

  “Hock,” the male grunted. Alex secretly grabbed ahold of the weapon.

  “Dornt,” the male said much louder.

  Alex slowly raised the weapon and pointed it at the closest one with the spear then shifted towards the other in the back that seemed ready to fire off an arrow. Even as a third man slowly entered the bridge with a club. They were oblivious to the threat Alex’s weapon represented. It occurred to Alex he wasn’t even sure what the weapon was capable of. They came with the Hermes, the ship he helped steal and it wasn’t like they had a range to test them at. He desprately hoped there wasn’t a safety switch.

  The woman now stood side by side with Alex.

  The first man that had entered looked to the one at the door. “Keshna dor… unbitem.”

  The female raised her arms out in front of her and screamed. “Dornt!”

  The male with the smaller club pounced forward and Alex shifted his weapon.

  “Fire!” Symboli said in his ear.

  Depressing the trigger, which was more like a two-fingered button, the alien handgun released its deadly projectile. The kickback was more then he expected, but with Alex’s slightly augmented strength it was nothing he had to be concerned with. The bang from the weapon was very loud in the confined room. Everyone reacted by ducking slightly. Unlike the aliens, Alex didn’t hesitate and fired again at the one closest to him with the spear. A large puff of pink appeared behind the alien as the round entered just above the mouth, the body fell instantly. An odd musical note was heard briefly, Alex looked to the last man who was now without an arrow. Alex quickly fired again, striking the male in the chest. Blood was spurting from behind the male against the wall as he looked curiously at his chest. Then slowly collapsed to the floor as if the strength to stand was too much to bare.

  Alex looked at the female. Who was sliding to the floor. An arrow was sticking directly out the center of her neck. Coughing and gurgling, she struggled.

  “Alex, quickly do as I say.” Symboli said with increased loudness. “Take your shirt off.”

  Alex took his shirt off quickly and was careful to not knock the headset off his face while doing so.

  “Why? There’s nothing we can do for that kind of wound.”

  “Now pull the arrow out with one clean tug, and quickly, completely wrap her neck very tightly cutting off blood flow to her bead.”

  “That’s stupid, that will kill her!” Alex shouted.

  “Just do it, Alex!” Symboli shouted even louder.

  Alex did as instructed and began to tightly wrap her neck with the shirt.

  “Tie a knot off to the side of the neck but not over the wound.”

  He tied a very tight knot off to the side, meanwhile the shirt began to get saturated with blood. Alex watched as the woman seemed to pass before his eyes.

  “Get the emergency first aid kit and bring it here.”

  Alex moved his head from side to side as he struggled to remember where it was located, confused by the mound of dirt near the viewscreen, behind it was an exposed bulkhead and scattered debris all around.

  “Near the mound of dirt… right side… on the floor.” Symboli said calmly.

  Alex spotted the kit on the floor partially covered with dirt and ran to it. By the time he got back to the woman he had it opened.

  “Take the blade and cut through the shirt and into the wound, open the wound large enough to visually see inside.”

  Without thinking Alex did as instructed. He assumed he was working on a corpse at this point so dissecting the body didn’t really bother him. Still, he trusted Symboli enough to keep going. He was also surprised at the lack of blood, he expected there to be much more.

  “Split the skin aside with your index finger and thumb and with your right-hand shine a light into the wound, make sure the camera focuses on the opening directly.”

  Alex did as instructed.

  “The arrow completely severed the airway and throat.” Symboli said.

  “See, there’s nothing we can do.” Alex said

  “Grab the white tube in the kit and cleanly cut two three inch sections from it.” Symboli said still calm.


  Alex carefully cut the sections as instructed, they were fairly firm but did flex under moderate pressure.

  “Place the tube sections halfway its length down each; the throat and airway.”

  The tube fit snugly in the airway but seemed it might fall into the throat.

  “It’s too small for the throat,” Alex said.

  “Just keep it there it will expand in a few moments as it absorbs the plasma in the blood. Quickly try as best you can to fit the tubes into the upper sections of the throat and airway.”

  Alex struggled to make everything cooperate in the confined wound, he opened the wound up another inch to allow better movement for his fingers. He managed to do as instructed. Alex feared the tube for the throat was only partially connected to the top portion, not fully attached.

  “Good job, Alex, now on the left side of the first aid kit you will see a grey cylinder with a thin plastic pointed tip.”

  “I want you to press with your thumb against the big grey button on the bottom of the tube and cover the sliced throat and airway with the gel. Make sure you cover any exposed white tubing as well. This will bond to the flesh and make a seamless connection.”

  “Not too much, Alex, that’s enough. Now grab the white roll of tape, squeeze the flesh together and apply a strip of tape over the wound. Good… Now untie the shirt and lightly wrap the neck with gauze.”

  “You did good. Now begin CPR, start with airway.”

  Alex tilted the head back opening the mouth which seemed blocked.

  “Symboli, look at this.” Alex moved the headset for a better view of the mouth. Inside the tongue was falling from the roof of her mouth. “Her tongue is attached at the roof of her mouth.”

  “Just breathe through it, I doubt it precludes the airway completely.”

  Bending over, Alex breathed into the aliens mouth.

  “The remaining aliens have completely retreated out of the ship. The fire does not seem to be spreading but smoke is spreading through the ship.”

  “Should I leave?” Alex asked while looking at the alien between breaths.

  “You have time, what happened when you breathed into her, did she exhale naturally?”