by Rick Graham
Legal Notice
“Revelations: Discovery”
“The Inquisitor’s Justice”
“Family Man”
“Vision From The Stars”
“Artificial Life”
“War’s Fury”
“Shadow of War”
Copyright © 2018 written by Richard Graham. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
This book may not be copied or duplicated in whole or in part via any means including electronic forms of duplication such as audio or video recording or transcription. The contents of this book may not be stored in any retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for any use whether public or private, other than brief quotations contained in articles or reviews which fall under the “fair use” exception, without express prior permission of the author.
First Edition: April 2018
This book is dedicated to God, for without Him I wouldn’t even be on this path…
Acknowledgements
I want to take a quick moment to thank a couple of people that have specifically helped to make this book you have in your hands possible. Without a doubt, my biggest support has been my amazing wife Erin. She has put up with a lot from my creativity in this project and has been more than happy to help in any way she can, even when I am talking about things she has no idea about. She truly is a companion that any man would be extremely blessed and fortunate to have alongside through life. The next person would be my friend Jerry. Even when he has had crazy things going on in his life he still found time to read early drafts, help with online discussions on our Facebook page and more. He is a true friend.
Thank You
To all my patrons who support the growth and development of the Revelations Universe through patreon.com, I want to take a special moment to thank you specifically by name…
Jerry Hahn
Alyssa Taravella
If you would like to add your name to this page, please visit us on Patreon at: www.patreon.com/revelationswar
Welcome to Revelations…
Generations ago all of mankind was under one unified banner, one government. Science excelled, culture expanded, medicine advanced, it was truly the golden age of development and progress. Or so it seemed. Without war and borders to fight over progression occurred on an entirely new level than ever before. But it came at a price. After a thousand cycles of progress those in power began to view themselves as their own saviors and fell into decadence high on their own successes. They lost their edge. They lost perspective.
Those in the core worlds who lived in luxury beyond measure had no idea what monster was brewing on the edges of the colonized borders. Disdain grew for the core worlds as hardships for the ordinary man became more widespread as the insatiable appetite for the wealthy took extremes to higher and higher heights. The gluttonous behavior of the elite spawned rebellion in every corner of the Republic. Riots, terrorism, pirate raids and more became normal across the border worlds as tensions boiled over. An incredibly unique and powerful AI called The Collector, was given the freedom to assist the Republic forces on how to best allocate resources and deal with uprisings.
In just a few short weeks after being tasked with assisting the Republic, The Collector decided that humanity was unsalvageable. Instead of helping to restore the strength of the Republic, The Collector betrayed its creators and unleashed a war to exterminate all of humanity from the stars. In secret it created eight unique children known as The Collection and made them the generals over its massive Synthetic armies. Millions upon millions of lives were lost as world after world fell to the might of the machines.
Within seven short cycles the core worlds along with dozens of other central worlds were purged of all humans. Thankfully, a daring plan had been devised by a coalition assembled from the border worlds that was successful in defeating The Collector and save humanity from the brink of darkness. Delta, one of the Collection’s deadliest generals lead the remains of his away from mankind never to be heard from again.
The Corre Republic was saved but would require over 400 cycles to bring her back to any semblance of her once mighty power. In her weakened state various planets on her edges began to breakaway and form their own governments further weakening the Republic. In the cycle 434 the Prefect Major, lord of all the Corre Republic’s worlds and all their people, secretly launched a campaign to retake every single world lost to the division that followed in the aftermath of the war against the machines. Once more all of mankind will fly one banner, one flag of unity. Science again will flourish, art will regain its splendor, medicine will advance beyond imagination but not until war once again beats her mighty drum. Many battles have yet to be fought, many lives yet to be lost. This war will be brutal, but it will be for the greater good.
This book is a compilation of six short stories set in the Revelations universe. Each story highlights a new character and pits them against an incredible challenge that they must face. The goal of this work is to showcase what it is like to live in the Revelations Universe and how people from all walks of life have to deal with the struggles they encounter.
Story 1: “The Inquisitor’s Justice” Page 12
Story 2: “Family Man” Page 70
Story 3: “Artificial Life” Page 106
Story 4: “War’s Fury” Page 143
Story 5: “Shadow Of War” Page 187
Story 6: “Vision From The Stars”Page 219
Glossary
Revelations is set in a universe where humanity does not originate from Earth. As such, some of the terms we use in our daily lives is not quite the same that they use. I have included this section to help you better understand the words and their definitions without it slowing down the pace of the story.
Stonecrete: [stone-creet] Very similar to our modern-day concrete but much stronger and doesn’t break down as poorly with time.
Rotation: Equivalent to our 24-hour day. The length of a rotation is how long it takes any planet to orbit around its star.
Cycle: Equivalent to one cycle of rotations around a star.
Communicator: Similar to a cellphone with even more robust features and capabilities.
Standard: This is the primary language that citizens in the Corre Republic speak. Most other nations have Standard as their main language or at least teach their children so that they can still understand it.
Synthetic: A Synthetic is an Artificial Intelligence (or AI) that controls a humanoid like body that fought in the massive war for survival between the nations of humanity and The Collector.
ANE: After Near Extinction (or more commonly known as ANE) was a new epoch that began to signify humanity’s survival against the Syn Armada.
Cuso: [coo-soe] The currency used in the Corre Republic.
Overloader: Essentially a weapon that creates a small electromagnetic pulse used to temporarily disable electronics.
Prefect Major: The Prefect Major is the leader of the entire Corre Republic. There are many other positions under this rank that assist in ruling, but whatever the Prefect Major says goes. The senate plays the role of the legislative branch of the Republic’s government and can affect policy. While the senate is elected from the planets’ citizens, the Prefect Major is chosen from the other Prefects that rule the 10 prefectures.
Prefect: There are 10 prefectures within the Corre Republic, and one Prefect rules over the worlds within that prefecture.
Governor: A governor is the ruler over a world. There is one governor per world in the Cor
re Republic.
All Father: The omni-potent all-powerful god of The Will religion. It is said that the All Father created all life and existence. Success, power, strength and dominion is promoted highly in The Will’s holy book.
The Creator: With His voice He created all of existence. The Creator is the godhead of the Light Bringer faith and has been hated for a long time in the Corre Republic as it calls its believers to deny themselves unlike The Will religion that promotes self.
“You have brought down the Republic’s fury upon us! An inquisitor isn’t someone you want on your tail. We better get out of here, now.”
- Dorso Eldra, crime boss on New Prime just before his sudden death
The Inquisitor’s Justice
Cycle: 434
Prefecture: Quarry
Planet: Assembly
Location: Town of Alachua
A long green lizard ever so slowly crawled under a patchy bush stalking its prey. The bright red shell of the cricker beetle reflected the late afternoon light of Assembly’s orange and red star. As carefully as it could the lizard leaned in close. Clueless to the danger the cricker remained motionless upon its rock. Now within striking distance the lizard slightly opened its mouth, the muscles in its body tensing up for the impending attack. Just then a large black hovercar raced down the street sending dust and small rocks into the air trailing behind it. The lizard dashed to safety as the hovercar continued down the dirt road.
Inside of Debby’s diner two old timers enjoying their lunch at their table next to a window watch the approaching vehicle.
“Sure is a fancy ride.” Gretchin said as he took a sip of his dark brew.
The two older men watched the car as it drove passed the diner’s windows and stopped in front of the town sheriff’s office. As the hovercar came to a quick stop a cloud of dust blew out from underneath the vehicle as it carefully rested on the ground before the engine was cut.
“I’ll betcha a dinner that its some prissy investor from the capital looking to buy the town again.” The other old man said glancing over at his friend.
“I’ll take that bet.” Gretchin said as he took another bite of his meat sandwich.
A tall man wearing all black stepped out from the driver’s side. He moved his belt cape to the side so that it covered the pistol on his right hip. Even from under his body armor and leather outfit the newcomer clearly was in peak physical condition. He closed his door so hard that the two onlookers could hear the muffled whump inside the diner despite the dull roar of the other patrons.
Chuckling at his victory Gretchin smirked. “Looks to me like it’s another one of those government inquisitors.”
Tossing his fork in frustration the other man shouts, “Damn it all!”
Inquisitor Damien Varius took a moment to look around at the town, examining and taking everything in. Various shops and establishments line the main road, some made of old wood others of stonecrete. Several signs with neon lights sit waiting for nightfall. A handful of people about the town stared intently at the inquisitor. As he continued to survey the town Varius saw the two old timers watching him from across the road, the pair looked down at their plates to avoid eye contact.
Varius clenched his jaw as he turned back to the sheriff’s office. The small rocks grate together under each step of the inquisitor’s boots as he walked up the pebble driveway. After stepping up onto the wooden porch, Varius stopped before opening the front door as he listened to a conversation in progress coming from inside.
“I am sick and tired of all these confound missing animal posters. This town knows well enough where they are! From now on, I want you to take any of ‘em you see down.”
“Yes Sheriff” replied the other voice.
Varius didn’t bother knocking. He opened the door to see a very gruff looking man behind a small desk, papers and all sorts of other garbage covered its surface. The other man, clearly one of the town’s deputies, jumped from the door opening.
“And who the hell are you?” the Sherriff asked with a very annoyed look on his face. He leaned forward on his desk and pointed at his unwelcomed guest. “Don’t you know it isn’t polite to just barge in to someone’s place?”
Varius closed the door behind him and turned back to the two men, his leather belt-cape squeaked as he twisted. He stood up to his full height and dusted off his left armored shoulder. “I am Inquisitor Damien Varius.” He pulled out a device from his pocket and a hologram projection displayed his rank, name and badge.
The deputy looked to the Sheriff with a stunned look on his face.
Looking equally shocked, the Sheriff rapidly tried to smooth things over. “Oh well, uh, welcome to Alachua Inquisitor.” The sheriff attempted to stand and shake Varius’ hand but hit his knee. Several pieces of trash fall to the ground from the impact. “Ow! This rotten desk.” He mumbled as he rubbed his knee to be rid of the pain. His old chair wobbled slightly from the cycles of torment under the heavy-set man as he leaned back. “I’m Sheriff Tome and this is my deputy, Jansen Trice.” Deputy Trice raised his hand to half wave.
“Sheriff, I am here to investigate the disappearance of Inquisitor Kopen.”
The sheriff and deputy shared a quick glance at one another. “There was another inquisitor here about seven rotations ago but…” Tome trailed off in thought.
“He left after being here for a day sir.” Trice said resting his hands on his hips.
Varius looked intently at the Sheriff and then at the deputy. “I see. We lost communication with him about five rotations ago.”
“Well, uh…” the deputy sayid trying to search for the right response.
“That’s correct Inquisitor Varius. He was here for two rotations and then left.” Sheriff Tome stated, jumping back into the conversation. “He was looking for some girl from the town Javen up on I-67 I think. As we understood it he didn’t find a good lead here in Alachua”
“That girl is the Governor’s niece.” Varius said, as he observed the Sheriff.
“I do believe he did mention that” Tome replied shifting uneasily in his seat. He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped away the sweat building on his forehead.
The Inquisitor gently rolled his head, his eyes expertly trained to scan the room without onlookers noticing. Resembling the town outside, the inside of the Sheriff’s office looked ancient with the old wood interior. It was almost pathetic how these townspeople had to live compared to the living conditions of the capital or other wealthy worlds in the Corre Republic. “I need to know what his leads were in your town Sheriff. An inquisitor going missing is not something we take lightly at the bureau.”
“No doubt. Well…” Sheriff Tome sayid as he looked to his lone deputy. “I believe he only had one lead here in town, but I don’t believe he ever mentioned it to us did he Trice?”
“Uh no sir, I don’t believe think he did.”
Varius looked to the side in thought, “I see, well thank…” a knock at the door interrupted the inquisitor.
The door opened to reveal a short little man in a clean white suit. He smiled widely as he extended his hand, his dimpled cheeks extenuated by the neatly trimmed gray mustache. “Howdy. I am mayor White.”
An awkward moment passed as the mayor’s hand hung outstretched with Varius never extending his own.
“I am Inquisitor Varius here on a special investigation into the whereabouts of Inquisitor Kopen. He came to your town about 7 rotations ago.”
The mayor quickly lowered his arm. “Ah, yes. I do remember him. Wore all black, same as you. Kind fellow. I’m sorry to hear about his disappearance.”
“I never said he went missing” Varius said, his left eyebrow raising slightly. The rest of his face was like stone.
“Ha, well…” White looked to the sheriff and then back to Varius. “I only assumed that he was missing or else you wouldn’t have come visit our little humble town so far from the capital.”
“I see” replied the inquisitor, a
s he straightened back up. “Do you happen to know if he had any leads here in town?”
“No, I’m sorry I don’t. I only spoke with him twice, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to divulge much.” The mayor said, putting his hands into his pockets. “I did know that he was here looking for a Lilly Aurelius. Sadly, a lot of people have gone missing in the nearby towns. Dreadful thing.”
“It’s those damned thugs out in the valley!” Sheriff Tome shouted. “I called the capital about two months ago asking for assistance.”
“He is right Inquisitor Varius. Ever since this terrible drought has set in gangs from all over the place have been a real problem for not just our little town, but several in these parts” The mayor shrugged slightly before continuing. “They have been kidnapping folks and using them for ransom money to buy food. Terrible thing people do when they are starving.”
“And this drought has been the worst we have had in generations” deputy Trice said as he leaned up against the wall.
“Hunger or not, illegal activity will be met with the full extent of the law.” Varius said looking about the room. “I am certain the bureau is aware of your situation and will allocate resources to deal with these criminals.”
“We do sure appreciate any help the capital can spare” mayor White said cheerfully. “Be sure to stop in to the Tory’s diner across the street when you get hungry. She makes an amazing hot sandwich.”
Varius looked back to the Sheriff, “Thank you for your time Sheriff Tome. Mayor, today has been a long trip, where would be the best place to get a room?”
