by Sara King
Vaghi – a small, nuisance pest-animal that eats and breeds uncontrollably. Once introduced to a planet, the entire planet must be killed in order to remove them. Which, unfortunately, is often necessary because the vaghi leave no vegetation or small animals behind.
Zahali (za-ha-li) – I’m sorry
Species:
Baga (Ba-guh)– Small, one-foot beetle-like fliers with iridescent green carapaces and faceted red eyes like a fly. Have abbas, which are the glands that produce their infamous glue, a compound that instantly becomes whatever it touches. Are afraid of miga, their natural predators, whose wings break the sound barrier with every stroke. Can’t count effectively beyond 6.
Bajna (Bajh-nah)– The ‘bankers’ of Congress. Black, ten-legged spider-like creatures approximately eight feet wide at rest—twenty if stretched out—who are extraordinary good with numbers.
Dhasha (Dah-sha) – One of the Grand Six. Very dangerous, violent beasts with indestructible metallic scales that shine with constantly-shifting iridescence. Big, crystalline, oval green eyes, long black talons, stubby bodies, sharklike faces with triangular black teeth. Their nostrils are set beside their eyes. Females are golden instead of rainbow, males have two layers of scales, indestructible metallic on top, gold underneath. Gutteral, snarling voice. Laugh by clacking their teeth together. Grow continuously throughout their lifetimes.
Geuji (Goy-gee)– a form of sentient mold whose entire body structure is composed of microscopic biological nanotubules capable of exchanging, storing, and processing information. If allowed to grow, they are easily the most intelligent species in Congress, with computing capacity far exceeding every artificial machine built by Congressional minds. Were the creative genius behind the ekhta, Congressional nannites, biosuits, and flowing-state ships. Bodies are glossy black that ripple in the light as information is passed throughout. Originated on Neskfaat, but were uprooted by Huouyt sabotage. (See The Moldy Dead.) Then imprisoned by Trith betrayal. (See Breaking the Mold.)
Grekkon (Greh-kuhn) – a creature that looks like a gigantic brown jumping-spider, but with a bulbous rear that extrudes a substance that will immediately decay/dissolve any substance, including otherwise indestructible Dhasha scales. As a species, do not have emotions. A burrower by nature.
Huouyt (sounds like: White) – One of the Grand Six. Three-legged, ancestrally aquatic shape-shifters. Bleed clear mucous. Breja – downy white fluff covering body. Tentacle legs and paddle-like arms. Cylindrical torso, enormous, electric-blue eyes, and a triangular, squid-like head. Zora – red, wormy gills in upper center of Huouyt heads that allow them to take the genetic patterns of another creature. Huouyt have a bad reputation in Congress. They are cunning, sneaky, adaptable, and excellent mimics. Considered to be psychopathic by most species in Congress.
Jahul (Jah-hool)– One of the Grand Six. Sextuped empaths with greenish skin and a chemical defense system of releasing their own wastes over their skin when they are frightened or stressed. Sivvet – the sensory organs that allow Jahul to feel emotions.
Jreet (Jreet) – One of the Grand Six. Red, gray, or cream-colored serpentine warriors who guard the First Citizen and the Tribunal. Have the ability to raise the energy level of their scales and disappear from the visible spectrum. Use echolocation to see. Have great concave depressions in the sides of their heads to focus sound, much like bat ears. Believe in ninety hells for cowards, and that each soul splits into ninety different parts so they can experience all ninety hells at once. Their rravut within their teks is the most powerful poison in Congress. Bluish blood. Short, engine-like shee-whomp battlecry. Cream colored bellies. Diamond-shaped head. Tek- the talon protruding from their chests.
Ooreiki (Ooh-reh-kee) – One of the Grand Six. Heavy aliens a lot like boneless gorillas. Five hundred pounds on average. Four tentacle fingers on each arm. Big brown ostrich-egg sized snake-eyes, brown legs, skin turns splotchy when frightened. Huge mouths. Wrinkle their big faces to smile. Grunting rattle of speech. Five feet tall on average. Laugh by making a guttural rapping sound in the base of their necks like a toad croaking. Average age is 400. Outnumber humans ten thousand to one. Only the Ueshi are a more populous species.
Shadyi (Shad-yee) – The species of the First Citizen, Aliphei. There is only one surviving member of this species. Shaggy blue alien, walks on four feet, elephant-sized, black tusks, red eyes.
Takki (Sounds like: Tacky) – The ancestral servants of the Dhasha. Reviled throughout Congress as cowards and betrayers. Purple scales, very dense bodies, upright humanoid lizards. Crystalline, blue, ovoid eyes.
Ueshi (Oo-eh-she) – One of the Grand Six. Small blue or blue-green aliens with excellent reflexes and rubbery skin. Aquatic ancestry. Headcrest.
Measurements:
ST – Standard Turns 9 standard rotations (1.23 years, 448.875 Earth Days to a Standard Turn)
SR – Standard Rotation 36 standard days (49.875 Earth Days to a Standard Rotation)
SD – Standard Day 36 standard hours (33.25 Earth Hours to a Standard Day)
SH – Standard Hour 72 standard tics (55.42 Earth Minutes to a Standard Hour)
St – Standard Tics (1.299 tics to an Earth Minute, .7698 Earth Minutes to a Standard Tic)
Standard Ninth-Dig (colloquially ‘ninths’) – approx. 1.3 inches
Standard Dig- approx. 1 foot
Standard Rod- approx. 9 feet
Standard Length - approx. 4,000 feet
Standard March- approx. 9,999 rods (90,000 feet)
Standard Lobe- approx. 2.5 pounds
Ranks:
Multi-Specieal Galactic Corps – Prime Corps Director
18-unit Galactic Corps – Secondary Corps Director
3-unit Galactic Corps – Tertiary Corps Director
Single-Species Sector Corps – _____(species) Corps Director Single solid silver eight-pointed star with a solid black interior.
Sector Unit – Prime Overseer. Silver eight-pointed star and four inner circles of a Prime Overseer
Solar Unit – Secondary Overseer. Silver eight-pointed star and three inner circles of a Secondary Overseer
Planetary Unit – Tertiary Overseer
Force – Petty Overseer
Regiment (8,100)- Prime Commander - eight-pointed star (In Planetary Ops, a Prime leads a single groundteam of 6 hand-picked soldiers, usually all battlemasters or above.)
Brigade (1800)- Secondary Commander - seven pointed star (In Planetary Ops, a Secondary Commander is otherwise known as a Prime’s ‘Second.’)
Battalion (900)- Tertiary Commander OR Secondary Commander -six pointed star OR 7-pointed star
Company (450)- Small Commander - five-pointed star
Platoon (90)- Battlemaster - four-pointed star
Squad (18)- Squad leader (Squader) - triangle
Groundteam (6)- Ground Leader - line
Grounder - point
A Sneak Peek at The Legend of ZERO 3, Zero’s Return:
The Legend of
ZERO:
Zero’s Return
Chapter 1 – Twelve-A
This is our future.
Though their bodies were naked, their minds empty, the fearful, half-mad faces that followed Marie from behind the bars of their cages were humanity’s hope.
Marie hurried her step. Despite almost twenty years on the project, the depraved gazes never ceased to bother her.
A familiar voice entered her head, unbidden. It will be over soon, Marie.
Marie shuddered, her eyes drawn to the blue-eyed experiment in the corner cell. His drip bag had run out again and he was awake. Fear clotted her blood as she watched him. She knew, more than anyone, that Twelve-A could kill them all, should it ever cross his mind.
The experiment said nothing more, merely watched her.
Marie hurried through the heavy doors and entered the lab. “Twelve-A needs another dose. He’s awake again.” Marie hoped her fear didn’t show.
“Colonel Codgson wants him awake,” the tech, a yo
ung blonde Army lieutenant, said. The woman gave the holding area a nervous glance. “Codgson’s got techs monitoring him, making sure his patterns stay level—he’s scheduled another demonstration for this afternoon.”
Despite herself, Marie cursed. Codgson was a fool. Ever since he had discovered their prodigy’s unique talents, Codgson had made every attempt to show him off to the board. Twelve-A had been pitted against everything the other labs could throw at him—and had lived.
“Do you think Twelve-A will survive this one?” Lieutenant Carter asked, peering at the experiment through a camera installed in his cell, face etched with worry.
Marie knew the lieutenant was partial to the handsome, blue-eyed young man in the last cage on the right. She didn’t think of him as a killer.
“He’s survived all the others.” Still, Marie felt dread creeping into her soul. Twelve-A hated the Dark Room. What if this time, he decided not to cooperate? Just the tiniest slip by the technicians monitoring him and he could wreak destruction on the whole lab. It wasn’t worth the risk.
“I know,” Lieutenant Carter said, eyes fixed on the glass windows of the experiment wing. “That’s what bothers me. He doesn’t like it…it hurts him. What if he doesn’t—”
A male voice behind her interrupted them. “We have his DNA. We can always make another, if he fails to cooperate.”
Marie stiffened and turned. The Colonel stood in the hall, his perfectly crisp blue uniform accenting a bored demeanor, as if they were talking about cloning rats.
You don’t have a clue, you stupid fool, Marie thought, watching him.
The Colonel caught her gaze and smiled, a wormlike twisting that chilled her core. “The first rule of this project is not to become attached to the subjects, doctor.”
Marie’s anger spiked, as it always did around the Colonel. “You shouldn’t leave him awake and unguarded like that. Twelve-A could kill us all right now if he wanted to. He could empty our minds, make us all stop breathing just like he does in your Dark Room.”
The Colonel snorted. “I doubt that. My techs—”
“—would die too,” Marie interrupted coldly. “You’re playing with fire, Colonel.”
The Colonel laughed and rapped sharply on the thick metal door leading to the containment area. The sound diffused with the sheer density of the metal. The Colonel gave her a smug look. “He doesn’t even know we’re here.”
Marie glared, but said nothing.
“If he did,” the Colonel said. “He would have killed us a long time ago.”
“You don’t know that,” Marie said. “Maybe he doesn’t like to kill.”
The Colonel’s gaze sharpened, as if he were a hound breeder and she had suggested his dogs didn’t like to hunt. He turned to Lieutenant Carter abruptly. “Collect the experiment and take him to the Dark Room. Our visitors are waiting in the observation booth.”
As the tech went to get the necessary equipment, Marie asked, “What’s he going to fight this time?”
“An experiment from another lab.”
Marie’s lips tightened. “Twelve-A represents fifty-two turns of work. If you want a friendly competition for the generals’ viewing pleasure, go get one of the Eleven-series to be your gladiator. Anything above twelve-series shouldn’t be risked.”
The Colonel gave her a humorless smile. “There is nothing friendly about it. The lab that fails today loses its funding. If we lose our funding, every experiment will be killed and our data destroyed. We need to win. That’s why I chose him.”
Marie watched him and saw the sincerity there. Softly, she whispered, “They would kill them all?”
The Colonel inclined his head. “Now you see why it must be Twelve-A.”
“Why?” she whispered.
The Colonel gave her a long look before he said, “Congress discovered our intent. The board hopes we can stall them for a few years, and the fewer active labs we have, the better our chances will be.”
“Can’t we combine the labs?” Marie blurted. “Throw them all into one building?”
The Colonel shook his head. “The genetic lines wouldn’t fight each other if they were kept in the same building.”
Still hopeful, Marie charged ahead. “Then maybe we could use some other means to determine the success of the experiments. Something that does not endanger their lives. There is evidence that latent brain activity is a clear indicator of—”
“We’re constructing a war,” the Colonel interrupted. “The alien Congress will bathe in its own blood before it realizes it can no longer hold us. Twelve-A and his kind represent Earth’s hope for independence, and it will take many of their deaths to see it happen.”
Doggedly, Marie said, “You’ve used Twelve-A three times in the last month. Why not Ten-F?”
“You want to place all of their lives on her?”
Marie licked her lips. Ten-F, though potent, was insane. She had fingernail scars down her face from where she’d tried to take out her own eyes after her final visit to the Dark Room.
“Colonel,” she began tentatively, “you don’t see them after their experiences in the Dark Room. It’s obviously very traumatic for the minders, and you’ve already used Twelve-A many more times than regulations allow. I want you to retire him. He’s too valuable to the project for any more games.”
The Colonel’s eyes narrowed. “This is not a game.” Marie started to retort, but he cut her off. “Go find out what’s taking Lieutenant Carter so long. I told them noon sharp.” The Colonel’s mouth twisted in irritation when he glanced at his big gold wristwatch. “We’re two minutes behind already.” He strode off in the direction of the Dark Room, hard black boot-heels reverberating on the white tile as he departed.
Frustrated, Marie went looking for Carter.
Ten minutes later, she found the lieutenant slumped on the floor of the containment corridor outside Twelve-A’s cage, the behavioral adaptor still clasped in her hand.
“You killed her?!” Marie cried, jogging up to kneel beside her.
Dr. Carter had a pulse. Relieved, Marie turned on the experiment.
Cold blue eyes met her stare, unwavering. Twelve-A was only two feet away, squatting naked in front of the bars, watching her. He was angry.
I’m not fighting.
Marie stumbled away from him. She began to reach for the behavioral adaptor, then froze when she saw him following her motions with his eyes. Twelve-A knew what she was thinking. He’d never let her use it.
Tentatively, Marie retracted her hand. “You need to fight. If our lab fails this match, they’ll all die.” Eyes still fixed on him, she motioned to the other experiments.
Twelve-A’s eyes flickered toward the others, then back at her. They’re miserable. You treat them like animals. They’re better off dead.
In that moment, Marie realized that Twelve-A could not only kill her and her comrades, but he could also kill his own kind.
“No!” After twenty years of living her work, the experiments were Marie’s children. At the thought of losing them, she almost forgot the history of the man in front of her. She reached through the bars to touch his knee. “Things will get better, Twelve-A.”
He recoiled, drawing deeper into his cell before she could reach him. You can’t lie to me.
“I’m not.” Marie held his eyes. “Just once more. I’ll make sure you won’t have to do it again.”
Twelve-A glanced to the side, away from her, pain etched in his young face. For long moments, he said nothing. Then, Take me to the Dark Room.
Marie glanced down at the unconscious lieutenant, then at the experiment. She left the behavioral adapter on the floor.
#
“Watch closely,” Colonel Codgson said, addressing the visitors. “See how he paces? Our experiments show an innate aggression…a drive to fight. He’s anticipating the kill.”
Marie watched with her back to the Colonel, recognizing Twelve-A’s pacing for what it was—anger.
“Is the experiment con
tained?” one of the visitors demanded. A nasal, gray-haired woman pointed at the large observation station in the corner, indicating the two technicians monitoring it. “Are they all that stand between us and that monster?”
In the Dark Room, Twelve-A stopped and gave the observation booth a small frown before continuing to pace. The others did not notice, but Marie’s heart clenched.
He knows we’re here, she thought, horrified. And he’s listening.
“We’re in no danger,” Colonel Codgson replied. “The walls are a foot and a half of lead-ceramic composite. Even the windows are leaded. His abilities cannot penetrate.”
“Has this been proven?”
“Beyond a doubt,” Colonel Codgson replied.
On the other side of the glass, the Dark Room doors opened and a second experiment, a naked redheaded woman, was thrust inside.
The fight ended as swiftly and undramatically as they always did with Twelve-A. He simply walked up to the other experiment, gently took her trembling chin into his hands, touched his forehead to hers, and his opponent collapsed.
“Amazing,” the nasal woman said, though she did not sound very amazed. “That’s it? Why didn’t they fight?”
“No one can fight Twelve-A,” Colonel Codgson said, pride seeping through his voice. “He is our finest creation.”
Again, Marie thought she saw Twelve-A glance in their direction, but an embarrassed-looking Lieutenant Carter was already leading the experiment from the room, her fist wrapped tightly around her portable behavioral adaptor. The moment Twelve-A looked at her, she twisted the dial and made him scream.
As Marie watched the other technicians rush in to help Carter carry the experiment from the room, she felt undefinable sadness. The Lieutenant’s good will had officially ended.
She and I were his only two friends in this place.
