Awaken: A Dystopian Science Fiction Adventure

by Troy McLaughlan

  The tendriled mass flashed.

  “NO!” Her light turned to a crimson red and a human-like shadow formed within it. The dull light flickered before returning to bright white. “You murdering beast,” she whimpered.

  “That was just a hundred slaves,” Draks said. The purple mass flashed again.

  She howled and turned red, her shadowed body gripped in a fetal position.

  Draks stepped forward. “And that was a hundred more. I wonder how it feels.”

  Her white light returned, but she said nothing.

  Draks eyes probed over her. “I’m told your telepathic link forces you to experience every exquisite detail of your children’s deaths. The pain, horror, and finality of each last breath.” He leaned forward. “Yet it’s more isn’t it? As each one of them dies, a part of you dies with them.”

  The tendriled mass flashed and Gaia cried out.

  “Stop it!” I said.

  He smiled and turned to me. “Or what? I suppose you think the Resistance is going to save you. I wouldn’t count on it.” He motioned a hand up. “Look to the sky, and see my ships within orbit. Ready to pummel this entire area to dust.”

  I turned to the light, her warm glow caressing my face. Calming, reassuring. “He lies,” I said. “He won’t kill us because he needs you alive. You’re worthless to him dead.”

  “Quite true,” Draks hissed. “Except that aboard my ship I have the sperm and eggs of hundreds of thousands of your kind. And then there are the collaborators. Every war needs its pawns. Eighteen thousand boarded our ships this morning. All of their own free will. If we need to reseed this planet, they'll be the caretakers, and Gaia’s consciousness will live again.”

  He smiled. “Ha! They're more slaves than you are, addicted to their selfish, gluttonous lives. It may take a year or two, but we have the means reseed this planet, and now that you have awakened Gaia, force her to do our bidding.”

  The pillar of light pulsed. “No, I will not be your slave again.” Her power blazed forth, arching with the energy of a solar flare. A blinding hatred ready to engulf us all and then it died to flicker.

  The edge of Draks upper lip raised, and his red tongue licked his row of yellow teeth. “You see little one, she can’t help herself. It’s how we engineered her.” He strolled to a massive crystal outcropping and sat down. “Now, I have a list of demands…”

  I focused my thoughts upon her. “You can’t give in.”

  “I have no choice,” she whispered to John and I. “I must protect my children. This creature chose his trap well, for without you I am nothing.”

  “But…there must be something you can do.”

  The light dimmed further till it was nothing more than a candlelight. “My child, there is. A dark way, a desperate way. One I discovered before traveling through the stars.”

  A vision took me of a young man with a golden beard who stepped before her and became engulfed within her light.

  “Here, within this chamber, I learned how to preserve my consciousness within the mind of one of my children. Only after this, was my escape through the hostile confines of space possible.”

  “Then we must do it at once.”

  “Take great care in this decision, my daughter. For once we are melded, there is no release.”

  In the vision, the years passed and the chosen man aged very slowly. Over time he witnessed all that he loved die around him. Yet he remembered with exquisite detail, his life both before and after. And so agonizing was the pain of his loss, so dark his loneliness, so terrible his memories of people and places he would never see again, that he begged for death’s sweet embrace.

  Centuries passed and his noble sacrifice was forgotten by the new children who roamed the caverns within the traveling freed world. Finally, his grief was so spent, that when Gaia found a new star to inhabit, she allowed his consciousness to pass into the void.

  “See that I do not offer you salvation, but servitude.”

  My head bowed. John looked upon me. His soft green eyes were wide and full of concern. “You don’t have to do this,” he whispered. “Our troops are landing. We may still win.”

  I shook my head. “No, they won’t.” I bent forward and kissed him. “Goodbye, John.”

  My choice was both simple and hard. Stay with John and he might live, but only as a slave of the Targs or serve my people and loose him to time.

  I stared into the light. “I am ready.”

  “Then it is decided.”

  She turned her attention to John, and his forehead shined. “My son, you must protect us during this transfiguration. For we will be vulnerable until it is complete.”

  John coughed a short laugh, and his feeble eyes lifted to the light. “Ma’am, with respect, I’m in no condition to protect anyone.”

  “Indeed.”

  Rays of rainbow light, like a watery mist, fell from her upon him. He drew a deep breath and his body seized. When he lifted his hands, his wound was no more. He gazed with awe into the light and then back at me.

  I caressed his cheek and held him tight, overcome with joy at seeing him made whole.

  “Give him hell,” he said.

  I nodded, and he secured his backpack over his shoulder before standing up. He gazed upon the light. “Ma’am, while you merge, can you seal the Targ and I off with a force field?”

  “Only for a few moments. Why?”

  He stepped away from me and closer to Draks. “You'll see.”

  “...and now I—” Draks paused and furrowed his gnarled brow.

  Tendrils of light descended and surrounded me. Shimmering, sparkling, like the air was made of diamond dust. A force gripped me, taking my breath away, and I was lifted into the air.

  Draks looked upon me with wide eyes and an open jaw. “What is this new devilry?”

  John pulled the anti-tank mine from out of his pack. “Draks, right?”

  The Targ flicked his head toward him.

  “Catch,” he said, flinging the mine at him before diving behind a shard of crystal. The Targ snatched it with his tendriled right hand and the mine exploded.

  CHAPTER 15

  Light continued to rain down on me. I gasped as it flooded over and penetrated my skin. A fiery pain, the likes of which I never experienced before, pierced every pore of my body, and yet I was not afraid.

  In the center of that light, her face emerged for the first time. Eyes blue as the deepest ocean, hair white as snow wreathed in wildflowers, lips the shade of scarlet. With a comforting smile, she greeted me. Her ivory white hands reached out and pulled me close, caressing my hair and back. The pain ebbed.

  “We are almost one.”

  I lowered my gaze to see John smashing Draks across his face with my staff. Draks was missing part of his arm and plates of blackened armor hung loosely about his shoulder. Draks grabbed the staff and yanked it from John’s grip, throwing it across the room. He charged past John, bulldozing him aside like a rag doll.

  I reached out to John, wanting to help, my stomach turning to knots.

  Near a corner of the Sanctum was his gun. Draks bent over and reached for it as John leapt on him and stabbed my dagger into his back. The Targ bellowed, whipping his body around. John slid off and they both struggled for the gun. For a moment, John had it, but Draks seized John by his throat and threw him against the crystalline wall. Draks marched over and snatched his gun. He turned to us and took aim.

  John reached out. “No!”

  The blast shot, echoing forward. Waves of heat rippled out in concentric circles, an electric blue blob in the center. Beautiful, but deadly. It struck us in the abdomen and ricocheted off.

  Draks eyes narrowed, and he bared his yellow teeth. He tossed the gun aside, muttered something and fled out. Moments later, the Sanctum shook.

  “Lumenara!” John cried. “Lumenara the ships!”

  We gazed up and saw their war machines in orbit. Points of bright red fire glowed from turrets that dotted the surfaces. The lights
bubbled and belched teardrops of ruby red flame that lanced down toward us. We stretched forth our hands and commanded the wind and lightning to intercept their bolts of fire. Then we closed our eyes and dug deep within us.

  The volcanoes trembled then awakened. They roared and obeyed our command, spewing fire and rock at the defiler’s machines of death. Battering their force-fields with volcanic stones until they exploded into a sea of stars, yet from out of the fiery chaos, one fled from our presence. We focused our will upon it, and seized the vessel with localized gravity well, but the cries of our children brought our gaze back.

  Within the shielded slave compound, the Targ soldiers tore our cowering children apart with tooth and claw. Many slaves fell prostrate before them, their skull stars burning in agony. We hesitated. We could not stop them, not without our children being harmed. So we interfered with the weapon they used to bend our children to their will. And their skull stars dimmed.

  “Arise. Arise my children. Throw down your oppressors. Seize the freedom that is yours. For I have awakened and they shall be no more.”

  The slaves rose up and hurled themselves at the Targs, beating them with fists, rocks, and clubs. The human warriors destroyed sections of the shield walls and opened fire into those still standing.

  When the last Targ fell, my children raised their fists and cheered, but all was not finished. We looked out across us at the destruction their war machines wrought. Wildfires raged. The underground cities of the Resistance burned. Volcanoes thundered and tsunamis rose. So we gathered the winds and the rain and doused the fires. Calmed the volcanoes, and tamed the seas, yet the damage was done.

  The light around me dimmed. Her exhaustion passed over me like a sickness without cure. For every muscle throbbed right through to my teeth and bones. I quivered at the pain of her labors. My body descended to the polished stone floor, and I closed my eyes. I stumbled, too weak to stand. John caught me and my eyes opened.

  “You think you’ve won,” Draks voice cracked.

  We both turned to blackened armor of his mangled limb.

  “All you’ve done is bought yourself time. We will return—”

  John raised Draks gun and shot it. He dropped the weapon and turned back to me. His face was long with worry and doubt.

  “Hey,” I said and lifted a hand to him. My palm radiated a soft glow and I froze. I turned my hands over. Both were encased in a halo of white light. My heart beat faster and I grabbed at my chest. I was still dressed in the same clothes, but the white aura radiated from every part of me.

  “Do something, my child,” her voice echoed. “For he fears you are lost to him.”

  John’s wide eyes searched over me. His mouth hung open, uncertain, like he wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead. My fingers reached out and touched the side of his face. John half-smiled. His trembling hand raised and brushed over mine with his fingertips. “Lumenara, are you still in there?”

  “Yes and no. She’s a part of me now, and I am with her.” A memory flashed from when she touched his mind. Something he was hiding. I caressed his cheek with the back of my fingers. “You love me?”

  He laughed. “Hey, that’s not fair.”

  “But you do.”

  He looked deeply into my eyes, and I saw everything I’d lost in his. “Yea, from the moment I met you.”

  I shifted in his embrace, and my hands reached around his back. He leaned forward and I brought my lips to his. Tingles like an electric current danced on my lips and shot down my spine. They raced to my fingers and toes bringing them to life in a way I had never experienced before.

  When we heard the people cheering from outside, he let go and tugged at my hands. “Come on.”

  I shrank back and lowered my head.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t go with you. I can only exist here, in the Sanctum.” I turned away and tears filled my eyes. I finally understood the price of our merging.

  “Then I’ll stay with you.”

  I whipped around. The sincerity was clear on his face. Tears fell. “No, I can’t have a normal life with you. I can’t live in a house, take walks with you in the forest, eat an evening meal. You deserve better.”

  He took my hands and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “But I want you. I don’t know where this will lead, but I want to make that journey with you.”

  “But for how long?”

  He ran his fingers over my forehead and through my hair, sending pulses of soft ecstasy through me. I trembled with joy at his touch. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” My bottom lip quivered.

  “Then don’t be afraid.”

  He pulled me close, and I found comfort within his loving arms.

  ~~~

  I am now one with our mother Gaia. The damage done to us and our children has been incalculable. Yet we shall rebuild and make ready for the coming of the Targs. For I am no ones slave and never shall be...again.

  The End

  Want More?

  If you enjoyed ‘Fives’ adventure in Awaken, you will want to buy the previous story in the series called:

  H I D D E N

  HU-645-555 wasn’t supposed to exist.

  Hidden as a child, at the age of twelve she’s brought into a nightmarish world where human civilization has been destroyed. The remnants of humanity are forced to work as slaves by bloodthirsty reptilian invaders called Targs.

  After six years of brutal training, she’s given a cryptic message by her human master and allowed to escape. But is the message she carries real or is she merely the perfect prey…

  For sale on Amazon here:

  US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075DGBW8C

  UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075DGBW8C

  Blood Calculus

  A plague has been unleased, and it doesn't care that Black Ops Commander, Victor, is on vacation. Now in a race against time, Victor must come face to face with the sins of his past to stop the outbreak, without exposing an illicit relationship with a woman he's desperate to keep a secret. But can he afford to save her and complete his mission...

  For sale on Amazon here:

  US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DV7NMX

  NEEDS OF THE MANY

  In science, discoveries are like doors, and some doors should never be opened. For Dr. Lang, his discovery became his greatest hope, and his worst fear.

  This is a free story. That’s right it is completely free. Just sign up here to download it. https://www.instafreebie.com/free/41ArP

  Hidden: One title. Endless possibilities.

  This story is part of a muti-author project.

  From military sci-fi to dark romance, paranormal to dystopia, the Hidden Project has something for everyone. Each author has taken the same title, and put their own spin on the story, leading to a wide range of stories in a variety of genres.

  You can check out all the books in the Hidden Project here: www.HiddenReaders.com

  Or join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hiddenreader or subscribe to our newsletter http://eepurl.com/cHr3Q1

  About the Author

  Troy McLaughlan is a software engineer who spends his days in the high tech world of computer science.

  When not trying to put food on the table he spends his nights and mornings (very early mornings) dreaming up far away worlds and writing speculative fiction. His second hobby is photography, and he specializes in landscapes, shooting wild animals, and astro-photography.

  He also has another life biking, hiking, and camping with his family in the mountains near his home.

  Contact Info:

  Email: hiddenfb.mclaughlan@gmail.com

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/troymclaughlan

 

 

 
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