Cypher Theorem Series Box Set: Books 1-3, The Zero Class, Shadow Moon, Dragon Fire: A Science Fiction Fantasy

by Mark Brandon Powell

  "No. Like not there."

  "Let's back off a little farther then."

  He slows his pace. As he does so, the Johns pace slows. Vargas freezes in place. The three men he is following do the same thing.

  "Overlay?" Amber asks surprised.

  "Son of a bitch." He turns the other direction, which then has the Johns face the other way. "Well that proves it. How the hell did they do that?"

  "Maybe close, following us."

  Vargas and Amber shift around their view, trying to see if there is anyone following them. An elderly set of women are window shopping behind them. The hairs on the back of his neck start to twitch as he looks at them. He calls forth mana, and flows it through his body. This wasn't like any normal fights he had been through, this just might be for his life. He wasn't going to pull any punches, if it was them.

  With his magic flowing throughout his body, he was able to see everything enchanted – notice things that he wouldn't have been able to before. It was a small spell he taught himself while working for Master Mativ, years ago. It was almost a necessity with all of the active runes around his workshop at the time. Any of which could kill him, or bring down a city block or two.

  There was a small flicker around the three women, like the shimmer off the ground on a hot day. It was small enough to where someone wouldn't notice without the aid of his enhanced perception.

  "Amber, there's an illusion spell around the three old women behind us. They seem to be window shopping. Can you take down the veil around them?"

  "Yes. Minute."

  "We'll try to hurry, I don't know if they think we caught onto them, or if they aren't paying attention to us."

  Amber nods, and he can feel the tension in the air close to him as she gathers up her mana. Extending a finger she releases her spell. Unseen force rushes toward the ground around the three women, at first only rustling the air at their feet, ending with a sizzle and pop of magic.

  As the veil falls around the three women, blue and gold sparks flash in and out, revealing the Johns. They each look around them, dazed.

  Big John says, "What the hell was that! Split up, plan b."

  Vargas barely heard what he said as they run in different directions. He stops Amber in mid-motion from chasing after Big John.

  "No, wait." He looks at her, averting his gaze from watching any of the Johns run. "Their killers, and they now know that someone is following them. If we chase after them, we could accidentally pull innocents into the crossfire."

  Amber turns her head toward Vargas, and gives him a frustrated look.

  She sighs, "Fine."

  "We're going to do this smart. They didn't seem to spot us before they ran. We'll head toward where the big guy went. We are just a couple, enjoying the trip we're on."

  Amber smiles, interlocking arms with him.

  They make small talk as they walk back toward the dock, stopping every few stores to go look inside. They went into each to look at who all was inside, and to make sure their deception was believable. The outer appearance for the storefronts were indistinguishable between the last, but there layouts were all different. Furniture laid out through the first few they walked through. Vargas wondered how much they charged for shipping, since this was a relatively new development, and didn't have all of the modern conveniences yet. One of the largest conveniences, was full access to the HVN. They could only connect to the internet portion, but not the virtual side.

  The next shop they go into was full of candy. Vargas watches Amber's mood change as they walk into the store. He knew she wasn't much for candies, but there was always a fondness toward them. A few years ago on their second date, he had brought her to a store like this one, she had the same look in her eyes then, as she does now. His lips curl into a genuine smile, one that wasn't forced, but natural. He reaches for her hand, softly squeezing it. Their eyes lock into a gaze, not paying attention to anything else other than just the two of them. They held that moment for as long as they could, knowing this wasn’t what they were supposed to be doing.

  It was then when Vargas could feel someone else staring at them, and he breaks away first, looking past Amber – to the other side of the store, where a tall skinny man was eyeing them both. It was one of the Johns. Vargas tried not to let it show in his face that he knew who he was staring at, but it was too late. John came barreling at them, Vargas began tapping into his well of mana, and John smiled. Reaching out his hand, John released a spell. Vargas felt this sinking, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach only for a millisecond before he was engulfed within an explosion.

  The next thing that he sees is Amber’s face above his. He’s lying on the cold rock floor, his clothes have been torn to shreds, and there is a hole where the door was that he and Amber walked through.

  He rubs his face, “What happened?”

  Amber’s worried expression fades slightly, “You explode. John away.”

  “Right, I figured that. Did you catch what spell he used?”

  She shakes her head.

  “Great, so now they know what I look like. Did he see your face?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Let’s just skip trying to find them for the rest of the day. This probably spooked them off from contacting their buyer anyway. If we know enough to follow them, they probably will be more careful.” Vargas tries to sit up, but every muscle screams as he attempts to. “I think I’ll just lay here for a bit more.”

  Amber nods, “Healer on way.”

  With the time he now had to think, while waiting for the healer to show up, he plans out his next actions. They have to contact Yeti and see what Biggs set up with him, then there has to be someone helping the Johns onboard. Someone in the crew or a passenger had hired them, and they need to be found. He hadn’t even checked the crew yet, even if Maldone was a tight fisted overseer, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t have slipped through the cracks. There was also the info for Charles, the host, he just got recently. He will have to contact him to see what he might be able to get out of him.

  The healer showed up in a white outfit that showed a red cross on the arm. By this point there was more than a few people that had come to see what was going on. Knights had sectioned off the area, and started asking questions. Both Vargas and Amber said they didn’t know what was going on, or why any of this happened. Which was partly true, and in leaving out a few details about a murder suspect getting away from a private investigation, helped them continue that investigation with considerably less restrictions.

  The store clerk came over shortly after the healer was finished, asking if they were ok. By this point Vargas was sitting up, and Amber was by his side resting. They both nodded, and Vargas could see that Jim was listed on the clerk’s name tag. He was young, late teens to early twenties, and he looked scared. This wasn’t something that he had ever witnessed before.

  “Hey Jim, did you notice any one else with the guy that attacked us?”

  “N… No, I didn’t, sorry mister.”

  “That’s alright, here let me give you my contact info.” Vargas flicks it over to him. “If you see him, or someone that might look like his brother, send me a message.”

  “But…” Jim glances over toward the Knight who is talking to a couple across the street, questing them about what happened. He looks back, “That’s what the Knight is here for.”

  Vargas nods, “Yea, he is, I’m here on a private matter. If you see the guy, and you give me some good information, there’s some credits in it for you.”

  “Oh, how much.” Jim’s tone piqued with interest.

  Looking him over real quick, he wants to be fair, but he didn’t have much to play with. Tyler had only given him a couple of thousand credits, meant for any supplies on the trip they might need.

  “How about two hundred?”

  “Make it three and you got a deal.” Jim says back quickly.

  “Deal.” Vargas reaches out his hand and shakes Jim’s hand.

  �
��I’ll tell you if I see anything alright,” He looks over to the contact info sent to him, “Vargas.”

  “Thanks, and if you don’t mind, let’s keep this arraignment between the two of us.”

  Jim nods.

  19

  Vernon walks through the entrance for The Switcher, with it winding through and around the base of the ride, allowing more than enough space for a crowd. Along the walls there were warnings and explanations of the ride. The warning signs said that all use of magic on the ride is prohibited by law, and were placed up on every other wall. As for how the ride works, it uses the Magnetic Drive System all cars use on the Astrum continent. It allows them to float over the road ways through use of magnets. Using that same Mag-Drive system, they surrounded the cart in modules allowing the ride to have the disjointed track.

  There is a small line on the other side of the tunnel, and they opt to ride in the front of the ride. Vernon figures if the ride derails he would rather see it happen, and the images he conjures up in his mind only stir his nervous tension even more. He begins to tap his foot, as two carts pass through, loading up the few people ahead of them. Once they get the chance to sit in the chairs, the harness comes over their heads and locks into place, with belts coming up from between their legs, latching to the harness, as an added precaution. Vernon turns his head to Marie, grabbing her hand.

  “Are you ready?”

  “I am, and there is no turning back now.” She smiles.

  As cart begins its upward accent, click, click, click, Vernon takes deep breaths to calm himself. Reaching the top, he had expected to fall quickly, but they are in the first cart. Hanging over the drop, it gives him a prolonged view of what is about to happen. He can see a hole in the ground below where the track leads, and feels the pull of gravity – with the harness keeping him in place and his heart thumping faster in his chest. He tells himself he has been in far more dangerous situations, but for some reason looking down the hole strapped in and not being able to move causes more fear in him than it should. This was all before he noticed that there wasn’t any visible track he could see in the hole. Vernon closes his eyes to try calming his beating heart, but it only makes it worse. They only spent two or three seconds at the top of the hill, but for him it felt like an hour had pasted.

  Then the drop.

  The cart’s Mag-Drive was missing the audible hum that Vernon was used to, and Vernon started to squirm in the seat trying to push away from the fall, wondering if the Mag-Drive was even working. He feels the pressure of the fall, the weightlessness, and the shortness of breath. Metal doors begin to close around the hole as they fall. It’s here where Vernon tells himself, he will be ok, this is a ride at an amusement park and they wouldn’t make something harmful. He thinks it has to be an illusion, or overlay trick. Even with all that running through his mind, steeling himself against his fear, a scream comes out of his voice, like that of a five year old girl having a spider fall on her lap. Mid-fall Marie looks over to Vernon, loses her composure, and starts laughing hysterically. Her sides begin to hurt with all the laughter.

  The rest of the ride was just as thrilling, with turns, disappearing sections of the track, and long jumps between open sections of track. Vernon and Marie get out of the cart, and walk down to the sidewalk in silence, if you call Marie continuing to laugh hysterically the whole way silence.

  Vernon turns to her and says, “I'm not getting my man card back today am I?”

  Marie takes a breath between laughs. “Nope, and if we have a daughter, you're going to have to teach her to scream like that, because even I can't scream that girly.”

  “Oh come on, you can't…I mean, I know that was bad but hey. That’s uncalled for.”

  “You really are cute when you get defensive about you manhood. Maybe you think you need to compensate for something?”

  Vernon gives her a long stare before snarling back, “You know better than that. I've been delivering my compensating to you the whole trip, and I have yet to hear a single complaint from the peanut gallery.”

  Marie mouth curls up in a sultry smile, nudging him in the ribs, “Maybe.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “What’s next?”

  “Three other rollercoasters, and then they have a waterpark. We don’t have our bathing suits with us, but I would imagine they have some around here somewhere. If you want to do that?”

  “That sounds fun, we should do that.”

  With the waterpark on the left side of the park, they make their way through all of the other rides they deem worthy. To also include the swing ride, and one trip on the bumper carts. Outside of the waterpark there is a shop with an assortment of bathing suits. They start to look through the selection available, and Vernon quickly finds him a pair of solid blue trunks. He tells Marie he will go get changed and wait for her outside.

  Marie comes out in a semi-sheer cover with a Brazilian style bikini. She opens the cover briefly to show off her revealing white swimsuit, and closes it back asking, “How does it look?”

  Vernon might have seen everything underneath the suit, but that did not take away from its allure, for him it did the exact opposite. He answers by walking up to her, and grabbing hold of her. Leaning in slowly, pressing his lips faintly to hers as he opens the kiss, pulling her closer.

  He whispers, “It looks amazing on you.”

  Grabbing her hand, they intertwine fingers, and head into the water park area. The waterpark was a bust. Only a few waterslides had been open, and the pool was closed. They dry off and head for the bus to see what the rest of the island had to show.

  The mountains, and hills were plentiful, and the views were spectacular at each site they visited. Marie always was one for taking pictures, and she had amassed a truck load of them over the last few days. Pictures with them together had to be taken with the camera embedded in the HaLO or by camera polls that were setup at the best view sights throughout the island. Hiking to the top of a hill, they posed with a back drop of a valley filled with trees that lead to the ocean, and had the sunset behind them. She pulled Vernon in close to her, and told him to smile. He thought that he was, so he parted his lips, making sure to show his teeth, preforming his best smile. The picture had worked out perfectly in Marie’s eyes.

  On the way back to the ship, they stop in the shops at the harbor. They would have liked to explore the town more, but half of the city was tapped off by the Knights. They could see a few buildings had taken some damage, and Vernon wondered what happened. There was a mountain of a man directing the Knights around, and waiving people along. Since it didn’t involve him, he just left it alone. This was his honeymoon, and he wasn’t being requested for help.

  Near the harbor, Marie sees a photo kiosk, and makes the photo they took on the hill into a postcard shipping them to both of their parents. This was the first of many souvenirs to come. She had a need to purchase them for her family, and wanted to pick something out together for Vernon’s mother. For his father, she left that up to Vernon. This was a difficult task for him. His whole life he had thought of his father as a stay at home dad, and he was great at it. Four years ago, he found out his father and mother were keeping their real past a secret from him. They were both in the Paladins, with his father being some big shot head scientist. His mother turned out to be some high ranking officer. He looked into the records when he was at the academy, but never found their names.

  They supposedly were all now in hiding, trying to keep Vernon’s existence a secret. They didn’t get into the details, basically telling him that it would be better for him not to know for now. That the more he knew, the easier it would be for someone to start connecting dots a couple of decades old. The only hint he had didn’t come from his parents, but was from the man who haunts his dreams, Adonis. During the tournament he was in four years ago, he said he was the missing child, subject one, and they were the same.

  Vernon tries not to think about it, believing it might just be the ravings of a crazy person
who tried to kill him, but he could be telling the truth. He shakes his head trying to push these thoughts aside. He should be focused on his wife and this trip.

  Walking past a plastic sword, his mother comes to mind. She, unlike his father, was still the same to him. She always valued strength, been fearless, and dependable. The new details were only that, adding to what she already was, not changing his perception of her. Marie wanted to get something special for her, but would say it was from the both of them. In each shop they went to he looked for something that reminded him of his father. The man he knew as his father. Kind, loving, stern, and always there to get into a conversation about how things work with him.

  Each shop had small nick-knacks and island branded paraphernalia, but nothing really settled with what his image of his father was. Past the shops there was a vendor who had a vanity coin press. There was different choices of what to put on each side of the newly minted coin, as well as the type of metal that would make up the coin.

  The symbol of magic, a five pointed star within a circle, and one of science, an atomic symbol within a beaker, were Vernon’s choices for the sides of the coin. The coin itself was to be made of silver, a metal his father was obsessed with. With the coin minted, he finally had something that matched his father. It was a conversation they had gone over a hundred times before. Magic and science are two sides of the same coin, and need to be used together as complements to each other.

  Marie was pleased he finally made a choice, and one so sentimental. She squeezes his hand, and they walk back to the ship to end their day.

  20

  Vargas and Amber leave the store, heading in the direction of the dock, to contact Yeti. A messages appears, telling them to meet at a small eatery right outside of the dock. It was decorated with dolls in the windows, which Vargas thought was creepy, but the smell around the place was heavenly. Smoke and fire cooked meat filled the air around the little store, and when the door opened, there was a mixing of herbs and spices that danced across his taste buds. Every bit of it reminded him of his mother.