The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga

by T. R. Harris

  The

  Unreachable

  Stars

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  #11

  an Adam Cain adventure

  by

  T.R. Harris

  Published by

  Copyright 2015 by T.R. Harris

  ISBN: 978-0-9913465-8-5

  All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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  Novels by T.R. Harris

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  Book 1 – The Fringe Worlds

  Book 2 – Alien Assassin

  Book 3 – The War of Pawns

  Book 4 – The Tactics of Revenge

  Book 5 – The Legend of Earth

  Book 6 – Cain’s Crusaders

  Book 7 – The Apex Predator

  Book 8 – A Galaxy to Conquer

  Book 9 – The Masters of War

  Book 10 – Prelude to War

  Book 11 – The Unreachable Stars

  Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

  Book 1 – The Enclaves of Sylox

  The Drone Wars Series

  Book 1 – Day of the Drone

  In collaboration with author George Wier…

  Captains Malicious – Book One of the Liberation Series

  Contents

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  High-Noslead Risnes Sala scanned the report before tossing the sheets of thin plastic on his desk in disgust. “Inferior stock, without a doubt.”

  “Agreed,” said First-Solicitor Cron Sinol, the other Sol-Kor officer in the room. “Yet the system is lightly defended, so the harvest should be uneventful.”

  “It will take a dozen such crops to equal one from the choice worlds.”

  Sala stopped there, not wishing to speak ill of the Queen’s decisions, especially not in front of a subordinate. Yet Cron Sinol was a close confidant of the High-Noslead, having served with him in two other dimensions and through countless harvests. He knew Sala would welcome the opportunity to speak his mind without fear of reprisal.

  “The Queen wishes the others time to fulfill her demands before proceeding to their core worlds,” Sinol said. “News of this harvest—as well as the others—will only serve to hasten their actions.”

  Sala crossed to the huge observation window set in the bulkhead of his private compartment and stared out at the distant ball of light that was the target world. From this vantage point he could see at least a dozen of the hundred beam platforms speeding past his flagship on their way to encircle the planet. It would take another forty standard hours before the beam saturation could begin, and then another twenty before the harvesters would land. That was when the truly tedious work began, the often weeks-long collection of the near-comatose stock.

  The Sol-Kor preferred their food to be fresh. Most breeds would succumb to the elements within just a few days, their fallen bodies soon dying and rot setting in; however, the crop would remain in acceptable condition for several days thereafter, since most of the wild animals on the planet would have succumbed to the effects of the pulse beam as well. But the lower life forms, along with various forms of bacteria, would begin to take their toll.

  The reaper fleet consisted of over ten thousand harvesters. Yet even with that number of ships, the job was never completed in time. The most High-Noslead Sala could hope for was a forty to fifty percent retrieval. The rest of the population would be left to decay, along with whatever signs of civilization the species might have achieved by the time of their premature extinction. Even with more ships concentrating on a single world, the most Sala could hope for would be upwards of sixty percent. That was why he chose to spread his four reaper fleets amongst four target worlds at a time and pull off the freshest stock without too much effort, rather than rush to salvage what was often a quickly decaying crop.

  But now he was under orders not to pursue the richest stock yet found—in any universe! That, in itself, was inexplicable.

  “You know I would concentrate all the fleets on a single world of the prime stock if given the opportunity,” he said to Sinol without turning from the viewport. “I could then deliver to the Colony a near one hundred percent harvest of the finest stock we’ve ever found. There are at least a thousand such worlds in this galaxy alone, and this is only the beginning of our excursion into this dimension. Imagine what other riches we will find.”

  “I agree, and you know full well that once Panur is returned to the Colony that the Queen will give you the proper authorization. You need only patience.”

  Now Sala turned from the window. “Patience?” he snapped. “You think I feel this way from a lack of patience? No, it is because I have read the reports—as have you, First-Solicitor. In the relatively short time we have been here, the natives of this galaxy have been able to defeat our anchor fleet and destroy two portal arrays. They have also managed to find a way to neutralize Panur’s supposedly impervious pulse beam. And worst of all, they managed in infiltrate our universe and attack the Queen! Never in our history have such events taken place … at least not in respect to an assault on the Queen herself. Now each day that passes without us confronting the superior species of this galaxy, they are afforded the opportunity to mount an even more effective defense, possibly even an offensive force to send against us.”

  Cron Sinol shifted nervously in his chair. “Much of the blame for the earlier defeats was placed on Noslead Vosmin, as well as Panur’s collaboration with the Human food stock. Only through his efforts could they have taken such an action against the Queen.”

  “I care not where blame is placed,” Sala barked. “All I care about are results. We waste our time picking at the scraps along the edge of this field while the true bounty is sitting right before us. By harvesting the richest crops in this galaxy we would also eliminate the threat they pose. It’s the best solution all around.”

  “I’m sure the Queen is aware of that as well, yet she desires Panur to be returned before advancing. Her overtures have been made to the superior races. She must let the process mature. If that fails, then she will make a blanket appeal to the entire galaxy. As in the past, Panur will be returned.”

  “And why, Sinol? Why must he always be returned? We already have the means to travel between universes and subdue entire worlds with his trans-dimensio
nal portals and pulse beam. In the time it will take the natives here to find and return the mutant, I could harvest a thousand worlds, which would allow for even more growth for the Colony. Is that not our sole purpose for existing—for the good of the Colony?”

  “And in the opinion of the Queen, having Panur once again within her court also serves the Colony,” the First-Solicitor countered. “We are not privy to the goings-on within the upper chambers of the hive. We do not know what purpose Panur will serve once he’s returned. The Queen commands it, and so it shall be done.”

  Sala turned back to the viewport. “Of course it will be done, Sinol. I have not achieved such a high ranking by going against my Queen, and I will not go against her now. Yet I too hold the Colony’s wellbeing as my main priority. So here are my new orders: Expedite the harvest of this inferior crop. Settle on thirty percent if need be, but have us out of here in eight standard days and on to the next target.”

  “Thirty percent! That’s unheard of—”

  “Just do it,” Sala commanded. “If the Queen wishes for the natives of this galaxy to return the alien, then we must give them the incentive to do so, and sooner rather than delay. We should harvest as many worlds as we can, as fast as we can, and make sure the powers here know of it. Let them fear us even more than they already do. Let them believe that their only salvation lies in Panur’s return.”

  “I see the logic, High-Noslead,” said Sinol. “And if we move in closer to the core worlds, that will evoke even more anticipation on their part.”

  “Precisely. That way the Queen gets her precious mutant returned and we will be free to act sooner, before the natives are able to mount a defense against us. Sinol, I am not about to let the finest crop we’ve ever detected go to waste, not when it is within our grasp. I will abide by the Queen’s wishes, yet I will also do all I can to speed up the process.”

  Sinol smiled. “And that is why you have achieved the rank you have in such a short time, my High-Noslead. You are one to be admired and emulated.”

  “Agreed,” said Sala without conceit. “Now go and coordinate the shortened harvest. We move closer to the core worlds of the Juireans and the Humans. Then let’s see how long it takes them to find the Queen’s elusive mutant.”

  Adam Cain is an Alien with an Attitude.

  His adventures continue…

  Chapter 1

  “Dammit, Panur! You can’t go around building trans-dimensional portals in a person’s garage without telling them first!”

  Adam Cain was livid as he circled the twelve-foot-tall rectangular doorway that filled the center of his three-car garage. Because of the unwanted contraption and its clutter of supporting paraphernalia, his new Cadillac Escalade SUV sat in the driveway, exposed to the elements.

  “I built the portal for you,” the tiny alien said, “as a reward for all you’ve done for me.”

  “I appreciate the gesture, but what the hell am I supposed to do with it?”

  Even though Panur had only been around Humans for a short time, he had already adopted many of their facial expressions … and the expression he now displayed was shock.

  “What to do with it? If I didn’t know better, I would believe you were being facetious. This is a doorway to all universes, a way to reach every star, and you can’t imagine a use for it? Personally, I find such portals to be quite enjoyable and mentally stimulating.”

  Adam was about to say that what was enjoyable and mentally stimulating to a five-thousand-year-old mutant alien wasn’t quite the same for a flesh-and-blood Human being, but he held his tongue. Despite his outward show of anger, he was actually in awe of the device. Once activated, it would lead to any number of matching doorways located across multiple dimensions, a concept which to Adam was the very definition of a miracle. Yet here it was, built in a single week, and out of spare parts he had lying around his garage.

  Panur might be an often rude, condescending, and even child-like runt of a creature yet there was no denying his genius.

  Through the fog of anger, Adam couldn’t fault the alien for his creative enthusiasm. He truly was like a child who had just learned to ride a bike—and now you couldn’t get him off of it. His curiosity was so insatiable and his intellect so vast that he couldn’t sit still for very long before rushing off to work on the next revolutionary invention or discovery. The quest for knowledge was his entire reason for being.

  So if it hadn’t been a trans-dimensional portal filling his garage when he returned to Lake Tahoe, it would have been something else.

  “I thought you were trying to keep the Sol-Kor from finding you? Won’t they be able to detect the doorway and trace it back here? And what’s to keep those flesh-eating bastards from coming through when you turn it on? As a matter of fact, I assume you’ve already tested it…”

  “It is quite safe and anonymous,” Panur countered. “I assigned a micronomic wave signature to the gateway and then routed the signal through several other dimensional dipolar neutron sources. It will be quite impossible to trace.”

  Adam wobbled his head at the pale-skinned alien, confounded. For his part, Panur was genuinely hurt—and upset. Obviously, he’d been expecting a different reaction from Adam, and now he met the Human’s angry glare with one of his own.

  “You realize you are the only creature on the planet Earth to have such a device? I would expect you to be more appreciative.”

  “This universe is large enough as it is. Why would I need a way to reach countless others?”

  “I thought Humans were innately curious creatures, explorers and conquerors? Maybe my assessment was wrong.”

  Adam shook his head. “Unlike you, we don’t have an eternity to check out every little nook and cranny in the universe. We have to pick and choose where we go and what we do. But the real point here is the danger the portal poses—for all of us. You say it’s safe and can’t be traced. Well, you obviously know more about these things than I do, so I’ll have to trust you on that one. But it’s a link to any other doorway with the proper pin number. The Klin built a portal, too—a larger one for sure—and look what we got…the Sol-Kor. So be honest, you don’t know what’s going to come through that thing, do you?”

  “It can link only with similarly-sized portals, and like I said, nothing can enter from other dimensions unless I give them access.”

  “Is that what all that technical gobbledygook meant?”

  Panur’s condescension was palpable. “And you Humans are supposedly the superior race within this galaxy.”

  “We never said we were the most-scientifically advanced,” Adam shot back. “Just that we pack the most devastating right cross.”

  “A reference to boxing terminology—meaning your race is the best at fighting—yes, I acknowledge that. Yet I see much more potential for your species than you obviously do. Humans should really begin living up to that potential.”

  It was nearing nine in the evening and Adam was exhausted. The irascible alien had shown up unannounced at Adam’s doorstep three weeks before, and prior to his trip to Phoenix he had been trying his best to keep him entertained, but since Panur never slept and his interests included everything, the task had proved to be exhausting, to say the least. The five days he’d just spent in meetings with the leadership of the Orion-Cygnus Union had come as a welcome reprieve. Now he was back home, and with Panur his ever-frenetic self again.

  “Just do me a favor, don’t turn it on unless you tell me,” Adam finally said, wanting to end the conversation and get to bed. “And don’t go building anything else without giving me a heads-up. Agreed?”

  “Agreed … however—”

  “However what?”

  Panur recoiled from the intensity of Adam’s question.

  “Your ship—”

  “My ship? What did you do to my ship?”

  “While you were gone I made some needed improvements…”

  Adam was out of the garage a moment later and sprinting toward the huge hangar that hou
sed his prized possession, Panur scurrying close behind. The Pegasus II was already the fastest starship in the galaxy, incorporating eight focusing rings within its relatively small frame. What the insubordinate alien could have done to improve upon that was anyone’s guess.

  As Adam entered the hangar, it didn’t take him long to notice the first of Panur’s so-called improvements. “What the hell are those?” he said, pointing to a pair of long tubes now attached to each side of the hull and running twenty feet forward to aft.

  “They are beam disruptors,” Panur answered proudly. He stepped up to the hull and placed a hand on one of the foreign objects. “I’m aware my suppressor beam has caused considerable problems for those within your universe, and even though the primitive wave-interference system the Klin scientists developed is somewhat effective, I’ve created a passive device that requires no effort on your part. Although you are personally resistant to the beam’s effects, this device will protect others who do not have such immunity.”

  Adam had to fight hard to remain angry. Having a truly effective answer to the Sol-Kor mind-suppressing pulse beam would be a godsend, and could save countless lives. And Panur was right. Adam’s implanted Formilian artificial telepathy device did keep him from falling completely under the beam’s influence; however, it still gave him one hell of a headache.

  Despite all this, Adam couldn’t let Panur off the hook that easy.

  “Okay, the beam disruptor thingy is cool,” he conceded, “but I didn’t ask you to do it. Did you do anything else to the ship?”