Drew wiped his sticky fingers on the plastic wrapper, then rolled it up, and stuck it in the door’s lock jamb. He twisted the door knob’s lock and shut the door, making sure the wrapper halted the latch bolt from going in more than a few centimeters into the strike hole, allowing him to slip anything between the face plate and the door jamb to easily open it back up. When he needed to and tonight, he’d get his ass in back in here.
Anderle was still practicing his dance moves, apparently oblivious.
6
Edge of M-Quadrant, Nearing Jupiter ~ Starship Atlantis
Slade and Craig stared at a holographic screen in Slade’s upper deck quarters. It was static, waiting for Kajka Okbak, the Kelhoon supreme leader to join. The Kelhoon were quickly becoming the sworn enemy of the Atlanteans on Callisto and, as a result, a race relationship Slade was interested in cultivating.
The screen fizzled, then blipped on. Kajka Okbak, recognizable only because of his ceremonial garb, stared unblinking with his freaky, yellow eyes. Slade had studied the Kelhoon, so he knew the half-lizard, half-human beings would make outstanding allies. He waited until Okbak had blinked three times, which was the sign that negotiations could proceed. He turned to President Craig Martelle and bowed his head, signaling that he was the human lead negotiator.
“I’m going to get to the point, Kajka Okbak. We are willing to deliver the humans on this ship to you on a silver platter. What is our compensation?” asked Craig.
They’d been over the same conversation with Okbak for the last several days. Okbak was yet to confirm any type of monetary units he’d give them for the prize he was about to receive.
Okbak licked his lips. “Monjaka monjova lakanjaka funjoonka.”
Slade’s stomach fluttered. He’d been reading up on the Kelhoon language, learning bits and pieces here and there and he knew numbers, and this was a big, big number. He wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to Craig. He felt the President twitch ever so slightly. He was impressed, too. Hell, who wouldn’t be? It was a lot of currency. The proposed payment was to be in galactic em-halcyon — emerald-gold melted into coins.
Craig gave Slade a look, but Slade’s eyes told him to stand fast.
Slade smirked. “Not enough. We want to be included into your galactic slave trade and farming system.”
“Najchka?”
“Why? You ask me why?” Slade gave Okbak a look like it was the dumbest question any Being in the universe had ever posed. “Craig and I want a peace of mind. We don’t want to be one of the humans you kidnap, like you have for centuries, to be used for farming or your slave trade. If we run a portion of the slave trade and the pan-galactic farming...” he paused, thinking. “Throw in a plush palace on Callisto for each of us, then our deal is solid.”
A flap on the back of Okbak’s scaly skin-head flapped up and his nose flared. “Goojkanta ga!”
The screen turned off.
“What did he say?” Craig slammed his fist into the desk, fuming.
“Let’s just say he’ll think about it.”
“You went rogue on me, Slade. What the hell are you doing?”
Slade stood. “Mr. President. I’m sorry to usurp your authority, but I had to think on my toes right there. I wanted to guarantee our personal safety, if we do this deal with the Kelhoon. They are ruthless killers and would eat us like we eat ham and eggs. Don’t kid yourself, Mr. President. This is dangerous, but less dangerous if we’re in on the whole enchilada with the Kelhoon, helping run their galactic businesses. It will make us richer than shit.”
“And if he says no?”
“Then the deal is off, and we commence to Callisto as if we had never planned to hand our politicians over to the Kelhoon in the first place.”
“If we back out of this deal, the Kelhoon will fight us.”
Slade could read Craig like a cheap book, though the Pres thought he was good at hiding his emotions. Craig obviously didn’t like the idea of going to war with the Kelhoon. He was probably happy to bring a wars about on Earth – it compensated his government and black ops companies just fine back home, but out here in the deep, dark cosmos, there wasn’t a lick of compensation for him for any type of combat. “This better work out,” he said. “If it goes south, I’ll hang you out to dry, like the snake you are…”
Slade popped in a piece of gum and chewed loudly. He winked. “Either way, I’m fine.”
The HDC beeped and Kajka Okbak materialized on the screen. “Oojkana.”
“Agreed?” said Slade. “Fabulous. We look forward to the first installment. When that arrives, you’ll have your human cattle.”
“Monjaka monjova lakanjaka funjoonka moonjova lakanjaka.”
Slade dipped his head in agreement. “Deal.”
The hologram blipped off.
Craig grinned. Slade figured he was thinking that his two young daughters – currently on the starship – would be taken care of for the rest of their lives.
“We’ll be living like kings,” said Craig.
Slade popped his gum. “Don’t need to remind me.”
“Does it bother you that we’re handing every human on the ship to the Kelhoon race, for their enjoyment, for their entertainment, for their business?”
“Nope. We’re going to have late-night trips back to Earth…”
“Kidnapping hundreds of people per year, using them as slaves or putting them into the Kelhoon factory-farm system, where they are bred, fattened, and eventually slaughtered.”
“They live miserable lives on Earth anyway. We’ll be doing them a favor,” Slade responded.
“Can we get back there before the natural disasters hit?”
“Sure,” said Slade. “There are going to be earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and you name it…eventually. It’s just the way the warming of the Earth goes.”
“Home…” said Craig. He didn’t try to hide his delight.
Slade punched in Fleet Admiral Lon Vernadore’s comm link number. He grinned. “Next up, convincing the Secret Space Program to go into a war against the Kelhoon. We’ll lead the SSP into a trap. That means you’re up, Mr. President.”
Craig snapped to attention. It was time to do what he did best. Lie his ass off, and this time to an admiral known as the “Wolf.” He’d need to be on his best game.
7
Leonia, Canis Major ~ Galactic Arm, Milky Way Galaxy
The lioness held Jaxx up by the back collar, her soft fur pressing against his neck. She pushed her way out of the stalks and stopped, gawking at several twenty-story high combat-mechs with double barrel cannons mounted on their shoulders. They looked at her, then aimed. The cannon barrel flared, then recoiled. A blast expelled and the lioness ducked, a singe of electricity sparking Jaxx, but the shot was high and wide.
The lioness turned just as the balls of flame lit up the wheat field, the stalks sparking into a blaze of fire.
“That will spread fast,” she mumbled to herself.
The lioness stepped into a throng of untouched grain stalks, hiding herself and Jaxx from view. She pointed to a combat-mech in the distance and gasped. It targeted a spinning, hovering pyramid, its cannon barrel rotating in place as blue blaze after blue blaze dug into the outer pyramid casing, throwing chunks off and to the ground like pieces of broken chalk.
The lioness dropped Jaxx. “You still have the phaser I gifted you?”
Jaxx lifted it up, targeting the combat-mech looking to ruin the pyramid. “I’m one step ahead of you.”
He pulled the trigger.
Whooooj!
The recoil picked him off his feet and threw Jaxx back into the grain, somersaulting him head over heels. The gun spun away, clanking against the dirt. He rolled over, grasping the gun while lying on his stomach, and aiming a second time.
The combat-mech turned, facing Jaxx’s and the lioness’s direction.
“Nice shot, peach-face. You took one of his cannons off-line.” She went to one knee and pointed her rifle at
the other cannon. She took a shot, her shoulder bucking back as purple charges expelled from her barrel, and lit up a second cannon on the combat-mech’s other shoulder.
The cannon burst into flames, twisting in on itself, and fell off the mech’s shoulder. A clump of dirt exploded behind the mech as the cannon hit the ground, plumes of dust shooting into the air.
The mech pounded forward, the top of its forearm opened and a blaster popped out.
“Run!” yelled the lioness, grabbing Jaxx by the back of the shirt and pulling him along. She heaved him under her arm like he was a school book, his head jostling back and forth as she pumped her arms, heading toward a white hut.
Halfway there, she went into a baseball slide and positioned her body low, barely ducking under a hot, sizzling energy beam.
“Let me down,” screamed Jaxx.
Ignoring Jaxx, she stood and dashed toward the hut’s opening, taking a giant leap. “Activate!” she called out.
The entrance’s floor opened up, exposing a dark hole.
Still grasping Jaxx, the lioness went feet first just as a flash of light and an explosion hammered above them, erasing the top of the hut from existence, and setting the sides ablaze, flames dancing all around.
They continued to fall, the wind rushing up against them, as if they’d just jumped out of a SF-13 Air Wing, 5,000 feet up.
The lioness discarded her bamboo rifle and unclipped something from the chains around her torso. She pulled Jaxx up to her shoulder like he was a toy. “Hold on to me tight.”
She lowered him and Jaxx wrapped his arms around her waist, squeezing with all he had, grasping the rope around her hips. She let go of him and Jaxx slipped, feeling his weight take over, then curled his fingers more around the braided lanyard, hanging on for dear life.
Phhshkur! Phhshkur!
The lioness held her arms straight down while holding two blasters in her hand, spewing out a continuous blueish-white flame from the muzzles. She and Jaxx slowed quickly, then started to hover.
Phhshkur! Phhshkur!
More flames lit up the room around them. Lions surrounded them, all descending, lighting up the immense, cavernous area they were in.
Jaxx’s feet touched the ground and he let go of the lioness, just as more of her kind landed.
Light poured through dozens of holes in the ceiling, no doubt openings where huts once were. A roar echoed against the walls and the holes in the ceiling closed. Blackness pervaded the underground.
A pop sounded and a dazzling display of colors spun in a circle near the ceiling, slowly coming in toward each other. A burst of light shot outward in the middle of the color array. The colors enlarged and became an orb, giving the area ample light.
Tink. Tink. Tink.
Jaxx spun around as glass-like tables lit up, glowing ambers, pinks, and yellows.
Tink. Tink. Tink.
More tables, chairs, and lights flickered on, displaying row upon row of immense starships, lion combat-mechs, and artillery weapons throughout the facility – a superstructure that went on for miles.
The lioness nudged Jaxx’s back. “Thanks to you, blue-eyes, we have to use those mechanical beasts again.” She pushed him forward and to a table. “Put your hands on it.”
Jaxx gave her a look. If this was some type of torture, then come hell or high water, he wasn’t going to touch the thing.
“We need your DNA to activate this, you bumbling idiot. Unlike other races,” she glanced up, looking passed the ceiling and to the Agadon’s above. “We aren’t warlike so we have a failsafe when it comes to war; rules about when we are allowed to partake. The only way the Divine Force allows us to use these weapons of destruction is by the one who brought us war. Touch it, Jaxx.”
There was truth in her eyes, or she actually believed the bullshit she was spewing.
Jaxx slowly moved his hand over the table and let it hover in place. “What do they want, these Agadon?”
The lioness growled and shoved his hand on the table. “What do they ever want?”
Jaxx jumped back. The table vibrated and an electric charge shot from the base of the table and created a swirling, electric circle in it’s middle. It shook more fiercely and started moving back and forth on its legs until it reached a trembling peak. The electric circle shot up like a fountain. Jaxx stepped back when the electrical fountain poured over the sides of the table, shooting a million sparks continuously against the ground.
The sparks quickly built up and each one joined another, building something ethereal, constructing layer upon layer of sparks, forming a giant rectangular cuboid, then ceased. The fountain vanished and the rectangle hardened, then materialized.
A book. And it was sitting next to Jaxx’s foot.
Symbols were etched on the cover, looking distinctly Kabbalistic – the wisdom of truth, the essential teachings of Jewish cosmology – represented by the eternity symbol, a staff with a serpent intertwining, an ankh, and the lotus flower.
“Open it, Jaxx.”
He took a deep breath. “This is etched in some of earth’s oldest writings? How do you know our symbols? Our oldest languages?”
It would have been a strange question to ask, were it not for the fact that he was an archaeologist. He held in his hand a book that was a key of some sort; one that might tell him the origins of these people, of his people – of earth’s many languages. He longed to bury himself in a corner and read until his eyes were about to pop out of his head. But that was the old Jaxx. The new Jaxx had a call of duty. He couldn’t retreat. He had to do his part.
“The many sphinx on your planet didn’t build themselves. By the way, it once had a lioness’s head, not the silly human head that you see today.”
He shot the lioness a look. He knew that the sphinx once had a lioness head and that the current human face wasn’t the original carving. Anyone could see the discrepancy between the sphinx’s small head compared to its large body. All other statues in that region were symmetrically perfect. But how did this lioness standing before him know this? Did she visit Earth from time to time? And there were more sphinxes on earth? She had to be wrong. “Many sphinxes? I’m sorry, but there is only one.”
“There are many and two always sit next to each other, but the male next to your only exposed sphinx – a female – has yet to be revealed. That’s how all sphinxes are created. One male, one female, closely bonded to each other. Once you have another ice age, the oceans will fall, and many more will be revealed to you and your people. Now, open the book. We don’t have much time.”
“You didn’t answer my original question. Also written on the book is the English language? My language.”
“We left your language as a seed for your people, knowing that someday it would bring your race closer together and be known as the universal language. Now, put your hand on the book.”
He inspected the cover. It was bound in leather.
“We are all waiting!”
Jaxx eyed the lioness and for the first time noticed a gang of lions standing around him, watching.
“Do it, now.”
He thrust his hand on the book. Static electricity shocked his palm. He pulled back. The book opened on its own, turning to a random page, showing an entire combat-mech’s anatomy, the engines, weapons, the navigation, and the fighting techniques associated with it.
The lioness stood straighter, taking in a deep breath. “We will fight. To your positions, my loves.” She eyed Jaxx. “Now, Jaxx. You are to help us. Stare at that page until you can’t stare any longer.”
Even if the lioness had told him not to look, it wouldn’t have mattered. He couldn’t have taken his eyes off of the page if a gun were pointed at his temple.
His head jerked as a hologram jumped from the page and penetrated his pupils. He bent over, losing equilibrium, spinning and falling to the floor, his chest landing on top of the book. A moment later, floods of combat-mech diagnostics and thousands of mech specifications entered his brain. It was a
simulation. Jaxx was to learn mech-driven combat. Then scenes of real combat blanketed his mind as if he’d been in these mechs before, though he knew he hadn’t. The experiences cemented themselves into his temporal lobe, until he had mastered the big machine.
He pushed off the ground and stood erect. He gasped for air and then fell on his butt. He glanced at his hands. “What happened?”
The lioness bent down. “We just put you through ten thousand hours of training and ten thousand hours of combat in a span of ten seconds.”
A combat-mech with a lion’s head stood a mile across the room in front of him, yet he could see it pulsate, could hear its engines calling him and its weapons calibrating themselves just for him. “You want me to fight in one of those?”
She helped him up. “Welcome to the team, pink-lips. I’m Zara. It’s time to bring a positive to the negative you brought to us.”
8
J-Quadrant, Solar System ~ Flood of Dawn, Callisto
“How are we going to possibly find her?” said Fox, resting the back of his head on the co-pilot’s chair.
“We will,” said Rivkah, concentrating on the ship’s nav screen.
They were flying Fox’s Oospore Class 9 dropship over the Flood of Dawn, low and nearly hugging the ice-cold terrain, approaching East Rise – an Atlantean city two clicks easterly.
Flood of Dawn’s photon and ion cannons pounded the East Rise border, kicking up dust clouds, full of debris and broken rocks, filling the horizon in front of them, hiding the horror beyond. This assault slowed the slitted-pupil, knobby-kneed yellow eyed half-human, half-lizard Kelhoon’s advance and kept them at bay – a temporary solution to a fucked-up problem. Eventually, the sworn enemy of the Callistan’s, the Kelhoon, would circumnavigate the clouds or even tunnel under ground to reach Flood of Dawn, Callisto’s capital, home of Queen Liberty Speidel.
Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set Page 49
