Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set

by Brandon Ellis

  Drew put his hands on his knees, bending over, a drop of sweat falling from his nose. He’d carried Mya half the distance, figuring it would be faster.

  It wasn’t.

  He shook his head, panting. “I didn’t know...they would be here. I thought we were running away from the fighting, not –”

  “Cállate!” Camila dropped the bag, bringing Mya in closer and kissing her on top of the head. She looked at Drew. “What now, genius? Where do we go?” Her accent was sweet, her tone harsh as a bomb striking the ground.

  Drew pointed at a car dealership. “My friend Ethan works there.”

  Camila put her hands on her hips, panting a bit, but not heavily like Drew. Carrying a kid takes it out of you, but she had years of practice. The baby was sound asleep. “So, what? No one is there. Look, all the lights are off.”

  Drew gave a thumbs up. “Good. ’Cause I’m not fixing to buy a car. I’m going to steal one.”

  Bratatatatat Ratatatat!

  “Come on!” They ran across the way, jumping over a road divider, quickly striding to a sidewalk, and up the car lot steps to the showroom glass doors.

  Locked.

  The city’s electricity was offline, which meant this dealership had no electricity either and that equaled no alarms blaring off for all the world to hear when he broke in.

  He went to grab a rock – something to break the glass – then jumped back as the glass shattered inward, shards of glass splashing over the entryway floor.

  Camila handed the baby to Mya. “Move.” She leaned back and threw another rock, this one a bit bigger. It bashed through the other glass door, creating a bigger hole.

  Camila passed her hand through the opening, unlocking the front doors, allowing Mya and Drew to pass through.

  Drew rushed by desk after desk and veered toward an office, Mya and Camila following close behind.

  Whapooh!

  A tank was near. Too near.

  Drew twisted the door handle. It was locked. He stepped a few feet back, then ran and slammed his foot near the door knob. It broke open.

  Bratatatat Ratatatat!

  They all instinctively ducked. The shelling was getting closer.

  Drew crawled inside and dug through a drawer. No keys. He put his hands up, then scratched his head. “I swear I read that it was in that drawer.” He opened another drawer. Only pens and paper. He opened a cabinet. Not there either.

  He closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing? We need to hurry,” said Camila.

  He put his index finger up. “Let me concentrate. I’m not thinking correctly. I have to locate the key.” He started whispering to himself, as if reading a manual. “Yes, it was on the fourth page.” He brought it up to memory. For a genius, having a photographic memory had its good and its bad. The bad; you remember what everyone has said about you. The good; you remember exactly where you saw the spare keys listed on a ten-page document you once read in Ethan’s office because you were bored, waiting for Ethan to get out of a meeting.

  Drew pushed Ethan’s desk chair aside and lifted the carpet mat. A shiny brass key was underneath. “There it is. Now, to the box.”

  He hustled to another room, slipping the key inside the black box’s keyhole. He twisted the key and opened the box.

  He needed an efficient, low gas mileage car. He snagged the key for the hybrid.

  “Got it. Let’s go.”

  Several cars were parked on the showroom floor, though only one hybrid. He walked over to the passenger’s side door, opening it up. He glanced at Camila across the room, Mya smashed up against her hip, looking for her mom for comfort and hiding behind her at the same time. “Camila, step inside to your new –”

  Ratatatat!

  Glass shattered, splintering toward them, and papers flew in the air. Bullets ricocheted off the ground and center showroom beams. Drew, Camila, and Mya hit the deck.

  Drew covered his head, then instinctively looked up, hoping his companions were safe.

  Mya was on the floor in front of Drew. He grabbed her and crawled backwards, pulling her along with him behind a wide, steel beam.

  He leaned against it, holding Mya tightly, staring at the corner wall splattered with bullet holes.

  He heard a slight squeal and looked over, seeing Camila crawling to them, her face full of tears, her hands grasping for her daughter, her mouth twisted in pain, mouthing “Mya”, a trail of blood in her wake. She wasn’t holding the baby.

  20

  Unknown

  Rivkah jolted awake and sat up. The last thing she remembered she was in some type of hazy reddish, purplish cloud after following Jaxx into the star portal, or whatever that dumbass called it. Now, she was in a room, no, a dome – a crystal dome.

  She twirled around, seeing that she was lying on a bed of some type, soft in texture, but also crystal in nature. It glowed with an inner warmth. Not much here at all, except the dome walls, which acted as a soft light, highlighting the cobblestone floor all around her.

  A strange sensation pulsed from her chest and up her throat. Then a sting zipped through her brain, splitting like roots, and a bright light flashed in her mind’s eye. She gasped, slapping her chest with her hand. Something hard and smooth was embedded in her skin – a blue crystal-like device. God, here we go again. More experiments?

  Last month had been a bitch. She’d been in a place she didn’t want to be – Underfoot Black, where they had experimented on her for who knows what, and here she was again, being a guinea pig for God knows who.

  She picked at the device, trying to slip it off. When it wouldn’t budge, she pinched it between her index finger and thumb, trying to pry it loose. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t pinch. And it didn’t move.

  She thought of Jaxx. He has led me into shit storm after shit storm. Will I ever learn?

  He was like that dreaded carrot and she was the dumbass donkey.

  But Jaxx wasn’t around her at the moment. She knew it. If he was, the creepy magnetic pull that seemed to continually draw them together would indicate exactly what she didn’t want – his piece of shit presence close by.

  She took a deep breath, then let it all out on a single breath. Jaxx was hopefully far, far away, she wouldn’t be possessed by the strange, odd powers that she hated more than him – powers that only worked when she was in close proximity to him. She missed him and loathed him at the same time. Missed his beating heart flowing through her veins, missed his archaeologist-geek alter ego telling her his boring theories and findings, missing the pilot who could out fly anyone in the cosmos, even her.

  The connection was gone and she was alone. Cursing his name would do nothing.

  She stood and the bed vanished. She jumped back, waving her hand in and out of the space that was once the bed. “How –”

  A couple of knocks echoed inside the dome and Rivkah turned, her arms and hands in her standard Muay Thai defensive position.

  A woman wearing a Secret Space Program uniform, hands folded in front of her, stared back at her. She held a smile, though her forehead was wrinkled and she had a downcast expression. It was as if this woman was just as confused with the situation as Rivkah. Or she did not want to be here.

  “I’m sorry to bother you. They wanted me to talk with you.” She looked down, sheepish, her shoulders drooped forward like a fearful dog. She glanced up, her smile growing brighter. “You’re one of my heroes.”

  That was last thing Rivkah wanted to hear. It was the last thing she’d ever consider being. She laughed. Flattery would go nowhere, except up their asses. She lowered her eyes. “No one puts their hands on me. No more.” She eyed the walls as if they were one-way windows and scientists were observing her from the other side. “I’ll die before I let you touch one hair on me, and I’ll take many of you with me.”

  The woman took a step forward, whispering. “I don’t trust them, either.”

  Rivkah jumped forward. “I don’t trust you, Missy.” She raised her back leg high
in an overextended kick, then brought it down as hard as she could.

  The woman was late to react and covered her head with her hands and arms, ducking and screeching.

  Mere centimeters from the back of the woman’s head, Rivkah’s foot stopped and an electric shock ran through her. Something yanked Rivkah away, causing her heel to miss the intended target.

  Rivkah fell to the floor. The dome vanished. In its place was a garden of trees, bushes, and flowers. Beneath her hands was a slate path that led to a forest.

  Rivkah stood and stepped back, then spun wildly.

  She brought her eyes to the woman in front of her. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Captain Katherine Bogle.”

  Rivkah ignored Bogle and gazed at a large Greek-like Parthenon on a hill in the distance, odd-looking trees around it. “Are you part of the Secret Space Program?”

  “Yes,” said Bogle. “I’m here now. I don’t know where the Secret Space Program is.”

  Rivkah backed up some more. “This is a trick. A trap.”

  “No,” Bogle shook her head. “Well...maybe...”

  “Well, what do you know?” Bogle was worthless, a scared little wimp. Rivkah continued to walk backward, her feet continuing on the rock path that led into the forest – a forest of fucked-up rainbow colors. Forests shouldn’t look like that.

  “She knows little, my child. She is scared and expresses her fear differently than you,” said a voice from the forest.

  Rivkah spun around, fists up and feet ready to strike.

  A woman, blond hair, blue eyes, paced out of the forest, her long gown dragging on the path. “You are to help us, Captain Rivkah Ravenwood.”

  Rivkah clinched her fists tighter, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t come near me.”

  “The prophecies state you and two others will help us. One is the key. One is the bull. You are the whisperer.” She pointed to Bogle. “She is the calm to you three’s storm.”

  Rivkah rotated her back foot. She was ready to kick some ass. If she had to live her life fighting every day for the freedom she desired, so be it. She wasn’t going to fight for anyone else, especially not this woman before her. She spat on the ground. No more experiments. No more confusion. No more pain.

  “I am Liberty Speidel and we are not here to harm you. You will fight with us at your own free will.”

  “Woman, you’re talking crazy.”

  Liberty continued moving forward.

  Rivkah stood fast.

  “I don’t speak crazily. I speak with purpose and with truth. I speak with the Light of the Law of One. I am Liberty.” She was now a few feet from Rivkah.

  Rivkah jumped, directing a perfectly placed kick on this Liberty’s chest. Liberty caught it at the moment of impact and twisted, then bent on one knee and pushed upward with Rivkah’s foot, causing Rivkah to fall hard on her back. Rivkah rolled away, recovering quickly, and threw a right hook. The woman moved out of the way, then extended her hand outward. “Enough!”

  A rush overcame Rivkah and she lifted off the ground, hovering ten feet in the air, her body useless, her mind like a roller coaster tossing about in a windy tunnel.

  Rivkah’s breath came hard and she energetically pushed the heaviness off her chest. Liberty’s power faltered. Rivkah landed on her side, the wind knocked out of her. She clutched her stomach, gasping for breath.

  “Captain Ravenwood, are you okay?” A hand grasped Rivkah’s shoulder, then let go. “Liberty, leave Rivkah alone.”

  Rivkah looked up to see Bogle standing as a human shield in between her and Liberty.

  Liberty dipped her head. “That is why we need you. Your mix of humanity and Atlantean is stronger than mine. Yet you are untrained and unskilled, which makes your power useless.”

  Rivkah sat up in a kneeling position, her breath coming slower, easier. “I’m not going to fight for you.”

  “We wouldn’t allow it unless you trained and trained well,” replied Liberty.

  “I’m not training.” She slowly stood. “I don’t know you, so why the fuck should I save you.”

  “Save us?” Liberty cracked a smile. “No one here needs saving. We only hope you unlock the key. When the key is unlocked, so are you and the two others.”

  “You can’t unlock a key, lady,” said Rivkah, rubbing her back, glancing around for a way of escape.

  “In this context, key means two things. Key is what unlocks the door and key is the vital component to what is coming to our city, the city you stand in, Flood of Dawn. You’ll be unlocking the key, so the key can unlock the door. It is up to the three to open the door.”

  “The three?” God, the woman is talking in riddles. The glass dome surrounding the city shimmered in a bluish-white haze. How the hell can I get out of here?

  “You may leave when you so choose. In the forest and under its canopy of trees is a space craft.” Liberty gestured toward the forest. “Captain Katherine Bogle, you may join her.”

  Rivkah shot a look at Bogle, then walked past Liberty without a second glance.

  “Wait up,” said Bogle.

  Rivkah rolled her eyes. Fuck me running. Was Bogle going to sit on her lap?

  Bogle was on her tail, doing her best to keep up with Rivkah’s harried pace.

  They walked around a downed branch near a tree a creature was crawling down. The creature moved like a caterpillar, though it looked like a koala bear with a long, black and yellow ringed tail. Rivkah ignored it. Bogle watched it with wide eyes.

  They came around a bend on the slated path and to a clearing where a wide transport craft sat waiting for their arrival.

  But how were they going to get in?

  Rivkah walked under its belly, touching the sleek body.

  Pftcheeeee!

  Rivkah and Bogle stepped back as a ramp descended from the middle of the craft, then shook as it touched the ground.

  Rivkah shrugged, saying under her breath, “It can’t be that easy.” Nothing in life was that easy.

  Bogle crossed her arms at her stomach, holding herself tight. “Shall we go up there?”

  Rivkah put a hand out. “Do you think these people would kill us? Or try to cause us harm in any way?” It was an honest question and all Rivkah wanted to see was Bogle’s reaction. It would tell her everything.

  Bogle sniffed, shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Then why are you so scared of them? Rivkah moved up the ramp, eyeing a cockpit not much different than the Bulg transport ships she’d flown in the past. In fact, she wondered who stole who’s technology.

  These cockpits were large, held several seats, and a holographic control panel that was already displaying. It was as if this Liberty woman was begging Rivkah to leave.

  Bvvvvvvv! Shhcah!

  Rivkah and Bogle looked over their shoulders. The ramp had closed.

  Rivkah pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips. “That’s my cue to get out of town, I guess.”

  Bogle came around the co-pilot chair. “Should I take a seat?”

  Rivkah sat, observing the holographic display, taking in what looked familiar and what she had to learn on the fly. She fingered her collar and gave a quick glance at Bogle. “Sit. Jump. Fart. I don’t care. Do what you want. I’m no longer captain of anybody.” She swallowed. “But myself.”

  The craft suddenly lifted and Bogle fell into her seat. “Why did you do that?” she asked, and before Rivkah could answer, their seat restraints automatically wrapped around them, practically suctioning them to their chair.

  The craft ascended and broke through the sparse forest canopy, hovering in place, the domed city like a framed picture below. A massive lake was set in the distance, several rivers flowing to it, along with boats traversing along the lake and rivers. A white temple was set behind the lake, a landing pad next to it where several crafts sat. And tree forts everywhere?

  These people are nuts.

  Rivkah grasped the control stick, then pushed the holographic throttle. The c
raft didn’t move. She swatted the control stick and leaned back, hands behind her neck, biting on every nasty word she could come up with.

  “What do –”

  “Not a word.” Rivkah put a finger up, cutting Bogle off. Another race, yet the same fucking results. She had no control of anything, especially her own life. Her dad would be grinning in his grave. Cole was right. She had daddy issues. She had a hydrogen bomb full of daddy issues.

  The craft buffeted and turned, a door opening on the glass-like dome. The craft shot forward, exiting the dome, where the ship dipped and hugged the barren, dry land, heading toward a mountain range.

  It flew fast and ascended up the mountain cliffs, finally rising over the lip of a mountain where a group of pyramids came into view, their golden apexes glowing, sending electric, lightening-like energy to a large obelisk.

  Rivkah gripped the chair’s armrests.

  “Can I talk yet?” asked Bogle, her eyes like a child asking her mother.

  Rivkah shook her head no.

  The transport veered off, descending low, hugging the wide expanse before them, flying over a thin creek and small shrubs, ice crystals topping the short branches.

  The craft banked and bucked into a wide, horizontal arc, mere inches from a hill. Over the hill, a statue came into view.

  “Princess Leia,” said Bogle. “That’s what the crew on Star Warden had called it.”

  The statue’s head gear glowed a blueish-white and off in the expanse, large turrets were moving, aiming, pulling back, then firing ion shots to the east, one after another, never stopping, never relenting. Clouds of rock and debris puffed out into massive clouds miles away from each continuous ion bolt impact, causing a smoke screen, blocking anything from view directly behind it.

  Bogle pointed. “What are they doing that for?”

  Rivkah leaned forward, her curiosity overtaking her stoicism. “I have no idea.”

  She touched the joystick and pulled it back, trying to take over the control to fly them higher to see exactly was going on. Again, the craft continued on its own trajectory, ignoring Rivkah’s efforts.