Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set

by Brandon Ellis

  He lost his grip and flailed through the air. He kicked his legs and arms, his body doing a somersault he wasn’t expecting or wanting, and he crashed onto the sand and dirt laden ground.

  He tumbled over brush and rock, smacking against a small tree. He grunted and got to his knees, the smell of burning metal filling the air.

  “Look what we have here,” said a Leonian, the same one he first met – the old, wise-sounding man. He extended his hand.

  Jaxx took it.

  The Leonian lifted him, then put Jaxx over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and tucked his mech under his other arm.

  “Here we go. Time to get you inside.” The Leonian took off at an amazing pace, moving his legs as fast as he could, the entrance to the base inside the hill coming closer and closer. The pyramids atop the hill were shining, probably some of the few that hadn’t been damaged by the Agadon invasion.

  Entering the hill, the wise-lion made a whistling sound. Immediately, the opening in the hill’s side began to close, the ground rumbling beneath them.

  The Leonian set Jaxx on his feet.

  Jaxx’s mech toppled to the ground, a secondary explosion taking its arm clean off.

  The Agadon were moving swiftly toward their position.

  The hill closed entirely and the lights flickered on.

  Starfighters and twenty-story combat-mechs lined the back of the built-in bunker, gigantic starships were off to the side, also in lines. The hill was ginormous, much larger inside than it appeared from the outside.

  “You are brave, young one.” The Leonian patted Jaxx on the back. “You were the last one outside and you saved our pride troops. They owe you their lives.”

  “They don’t owe him a lion’s mane,” said Zara, stepping between Jaxx and the old lion. “He brought this carnage. He brought this wrath upon us.”

  “He didn’t bring nothing to no one. It wasn’t Jaxx’s fault. You stick to your blame-game, Zara, and the only thing that will come crumbling down will be you. All things are temporary. The only constant is change.”

  Jaxx shifted in his stance. “Why aren’t you two talking? I can hear you, but your lips aren’t moving.”

  Zara shook her head. “You see? This peach-fuzz brain only just figured out we don’t speak. He is dumb. Worthless.”

  The wise-lion bowed to Jaxx. “My name is Abdu. We’re telepathic Beings. You move your lips, saying some type of gibberish, but we get what you’re saying through the thoughts forming your words. Telepathy is the true universal language.”

  “Then how can I hear you?” inquired Jaxx.

  Abdu gave Zara a satisfied look, his thick brows rising. “You see this Jaxx is much smarter than you think. He is obviously open to our communication and has been since he first arrived.”

  A thunderous sound rang inside the facility and everyone, Jaxx included, ducked.

  The lights flickered and dust fell from the high ceiling.

  “What do we do now?” asked Jaxx.

  Zara unclipped a red vial from her chains. “We drink up.” She downed it in several seconds. “We then leave our home world. It is dead, gone, taken over and soon to be ravaged and sucked of all life by the Agadon magic-makers.” She growled and marched off toward hundreds of twenty-story tall mechs lining the back wall.

  She unclipped another vial and threw it at Jaxx. He caught it and took off the cap and peered into the vial. Inside, shimmering gold flakes floated in the liquid. He took a sniff, then bent over with his hand on his mouth, almost puking. Maybe he’d drink up later.

  He turned to Abdu. “Where are we going?” asked Jaxx.

  Abdu motioned at the thousands of Leonian’s jumping in starfighters, transport ships, and combat-mechs. “We are regrouping. We have to teleport via the pyramid network you opened. As long as we have one actively functioning pyramid on this planet, we can teleport where we please.”

  He wanted to know how that was possible. He closed his eyes, linking up to the pyramid network. He took a long, deep breath, clearing his mind, intending the network to speak to him, to answer his question.

  A pyramid, golden and shining like the sun, appeared in his mind’s eye. Out of its apex, it shot an energetic tube, clear and wide, to a network of ethereal tubes in space. His vision panned out, seeing the pyramid network like a sphere of translucent tubes surrounding the Milky Way Galaxy. Planets that held pyramids all had tubes extending from the planet to the network. It was simple. If he wanted to go somewhere, he’d need to designate a specific world he wanted to travel to while inside a pyramid, and it would teleport him through the energetic tubes, across the galaxy if need be, and to the tube that connected to the specific world. It only took seconds.

  “Get in a combat-mech. We’re heading to a very wonderful place. Let’s hope the Agadon don’t follow us,” said Abdu. “We’re heading to Taiyo.”

  Jaxx shook his head vehemently. “No. We’re not taking ourselves or these Agadon to Taiyo.” The Kelhoon attacked them, along with the SSP, and ravaged their world. It was only a few years ago when he helped the Taiyonians stave them off, push them back and out of their solar system. The Taiyonians had been in repair, emotionally and physically, ever since. “The Taiyonians have been through enough.”

  Abdu, walking beside him, smirked. “The prophecy says we are. They, and we, will be your helpers.”

  “Helpers for what?”

  Abdu held onto his chains. “You’ll see.” He gestured to the vial in Jaxx’s hand. “Drink up.”

  Jaxx jumped up a ladder leaning against a twenty-story mech, found some footholds, and climbed into the cockpit. The ladder reminded him of the ones the SSP had, only it was larger.

  Abdu and Zara climbed into their mechs on either side of Jaxx.

  Abdu held up a vial full of the same red liquid in Jaxx’s vial. He lifted it in a toast.

  Jaxx lifted his own vial, then brought it to his lips. He drank it down. Then spat what was left in his mouth down the side of the mech. “Gross! What was that?”

  Abdu gave a hefty laugh, his hand on his belly. “It’s Golgath piss – a four-legged animal on Leonia. It will give you lots of energy.” He continued to laugh. “You’re going to need it. Trans-world travel is…well…let’s call it enervating. You’ll be glad of the Golgath piss when we get to the other side. Trust me.”

  “Everyone, get ready,” said Zara. “Destination; Taiyo.”

  Jaxx’s body vibrated and a wave of sharp energy shot through him. His chest violently lifted toward the ceiling, his back arcing away from the cockpit’s seat. A flash of brilliant, electric blue light swirled in front of him, then encapsulated his vision. He tingled all over, the pyramid network displaying before him, a golden shaft of light shot up from him and his mech. He glanced up, seeing the translucent tube. This time he was inside it, ready to blast off of this planet and to another.

  Then darkness.

  And silence.

  Then a splash of light, bright and unforgiving, penetrated his soul. Stars appeared. He was in space with hundreds of ships, combat-mechs, and starships around him.

  A planet, blue and green, like a glowing jewel in the night, floated in space no more than a few clicks away. His heart ached for Earth, but the planet’s tell-tale moons, Utsukushi Tsuki – an all blue, water moon – and Mori Tsuki – a forested moon – mostly green and brown, from the dense forests from a high carbon dioxide environment – confirmed that the planet was Taiyo.

  A beep on his sensor told him bandits were near. He flipped to reverse vid cams, seeing exactly what he didn’t want to see.

  Giant ships. Agadon ships. A blue hue, mimicking fire, danced at the bottom of a few frigates. The starfighters, starships, and destroyers were in formation – ready to attack.

  The Agadon had followed them.

  Jaxx had not only brought hell upon the Leonians. He brought hell upon the Taiyonians. He was a curse upon all peoples. He was the bringer of death.

  He slammed his hand on the console. “So
n of a...”

  “Attack formation. Move!” ordered Zaya.

  Jaxx adjusted his thrusters, pushing port thrusters to full, and flipped around. He turned his missile batteries on and targeted the nearest enemy starfighter, his screen glowing a deep red, telling him he had a lock. He put his finger over the trigger. “I’m ready to engage.”

  21

  E-Quadrant, Earth ~ Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

  Drips reverberated against the tunnel walls and every other step landed in a thin puddle. A musty smell filled the area and they walked slowly, guided only by Anderle’s cell phone light.

  “Where is she? Where is Mya?” asked Drew, trying to avoid a puddle, only to land in another, hurrying to get to whatever destination Anderle was taking them.

  “Up ahead,” Anderle went into a quick jog. “She should be right over —”

  “Should?” Drew’s voice echoed against the walls, louder than he meant it to be.

  “Keep your voice down, and keep up the pace,” said T-hacker, glancing over his shoulder.

  “My guys are waiting for us at the end of this tunnel. We’ve got four Range Rovers ready to drive the shit out of here,” explained Anderle. He picked up his pace, his breathing coming heavier. He looked behind him, worry in his eyes, probably imagining Chinese soldiers coming out of the shadows and shooting them full of bullets.

  “What do we do when we get out of here?” asked Drew.

  “We have another Range Rover being chased and riddled with bullets by the Chinese right now.”

  “What do you mean?” said Drew. He stepped into another puddle.

  Anderle let out a nervous laugh, the phone he carried for their light shook. “We have many safe-guards set up. We hooked up another Range Rover with a manikin a long time ago. If anything went wrong, we’d drive it remotely with T-hacker’s phone. It actually drives itself, but it’s fitted with explosives. Once they disable it, they’ll check for me inside and badda-bing, badda-boom. They go up in flames. In the meantime, we’re driving off in our own Range Rovers, me and my hacker boys, safe and happy.”

  Anderle was a genius, but a fucking nut job to boot. “Why would you choose a Range Rover for our getaway and a Range Rover for your fake getaway?”

  Anderle lifted his shoulders nonchalantly and pushed out his lower lip. “It’s my favorite car.”

  “If they see a second Range Rover, a third, and forth, maybe even just an hour after we drive off into the sunset, they will check it out immediately. You pick a different car and they might bypass it, thinking it’s just another American driving down the damn road.” How stupid could the guy be?

  Anderle paused, thinking for a moment. He shrugged it off. “We got this. We’ll be fine.” He put his hand up. The end of the tunnel was coming near. “Where are the rest of them? Where are the other Range Rovers?”

  At the end of the tunnel, yet still inside it, sat a white Range Rover, covered in dust and dirt, as if it had sat there for months without anyone touching it, which was probably the case. Early dawn light sprinkled into the lip of the tunnel. Beyond was a gravel road surrounded by ferns, grasses, and trees.

  Drew stopped dead in his tracks, his stomach falling. His body turned cold. “No, no. Mya’s gone?”

  Anderle walked over and kicked the wall, pulling his hair way too violently. “Son of a bitch! They took her. Our guys turned tail and ran.” His arms went rigid by his sides, his hands in a fist, his shoulder’s up toward his ears. “We needed her. They knew that.” He jabbed his finger in Drew’s face. “She is more powerful around her dad and we need her to be powerful, way fucking powerful.”

  Drew pushed his hand away. “She is just a six-year old. You piece of shit. You used her and look where it got her.” He reared back, ready to throw a punch.

  T-hacker grabbed Drew’s hand, preventing him.

  Drew shrugged T-hacker off of him and ran his hands through his hair, thinking. “Where would they have gone? We can locate her there. Find her, or something.” He started pacing, his hands going numb. This wasn’t even his own daughter and he was having a panic attack. Was it because she was his responsibility and he screwed up? “Why do you need someone like her? Who cares if she’s powerful.”

  T-hacker shoved the phone in Drew’s face. “This is why.”

  The screen saver was a picture of a blackened sky with dozens of vessels shaped like diamonds, whitish-blue hue glowing off of them. They were dropping what looked like red energy balls on a city. The city was on fire, the buildings crumbling apart, people running, others on fire, dying. Was that New York?

  “That’s London,” came Anderle. “Those things are appearing over hot spots, mainly older ancient sites, like pyramids. This one materialized over Stonehenge, and then moved on, attacking everything in sight.”

  Drew walked over to the Range Rover, then picked up his pace, finding himself in a full out run. He didn’t know how to feel – about any of this. First China was taking over. Now another damn monster was on the loose in the form of alien spacecraft, killing everything. Mya has super powers? So what? It didn’t matter. “We have to find Mya.” He didn’t know about this so-called super power Anderle claimed she had. All he saw her do was heal a guy’s nose.

  He reached the Range Rover, placing his hand on the door handle.

  An explosion rocked the area beyond the lip of the tunnel and Drew hit the ground. The tunnel shuddered, a ball of flames erupted on the gravel road beyond the tunnel. He stood, feeling the heat blast against him. He bolted to the edge of the tunnel and looked out. A Range Rover was on fire a short distance away, the front completely blown to shreds, the back intact, but wasting away in an inferno of flames.

  No one survived that. They couldn’t have.

  He took a step backward when the Rover’s back door opened. And out walked Mya, crying loudly, walking toward the tunnel, her face contorted in a spasm of sobs. She shook her head, her eyes changing from complete sadness to rage. She spun around and thrust her hand toward the Range Rover. The fire died down. Her hands shook. Her legs wobbled. She fell to her knees on the gravel. Yet, she maintained her stance, holding her hand out. The fire extinguished. She collapsed.

  Drew ran to her. He moved his feet as fast as they could, pumping his arms up and down, his breath coming heavy. Rocks kicked up with every step.

  He slowed when he came up to Mya and bent down. She was asleep, breathing slowly, but not a single scratch on her, or any burn mark. “What the hell?” He went to pick her up and touched her back. His hand singed and he pulled it back. She was as hot as a camp fire.

  22

  Edge of M-Quadrant, Nearing Jupiter ~ Starship Atlantis

  Slade was on his way to Shaughnessy’s room and turned a corner, his chin low, his eyes forward. He wanted to end this prick like he was the black plague. And to Slade, Shaughnessy was worse than all plagues meshed together.

  His watch beeped and Slade stopped and tapped it. A hologram shot outward, highlighting his face full of lights and colors. “What the fuck?”

  He dropped his arm and the hologram blipped off. Now it was between Ken and Shaughnessy as to which one was more of a disease. It was turning into a coin flip.

  He slapped his palm against a storage door’s control panel, opening the door. He walked inside and sat on a crate, the door shutting a few seconds later.

  Of all things, he didn’t want to spend his time watching Ken’s every move. But he had to and right now, the camera’s were pointing at Ken and he wasn’t playing right by Slade.

  He turned his watch hologram back on, watching Ken like a hawk.

  Ken was also in a storage room, though somewhere else on the ship. Slade checked the location and nodded. “Bastard.” Ken was on the lowest deck, obviously up to something that Slade knew he wouldn’t like.

  Ken pushed the storage room’s door open, leading several men out onto the deck with him. “Go, go.”

  The men were politicians and there were at least four dozen of them, bu
t Slade was too pissed to count. What the hell were these guys doing? They were dressed up in what looked to be their best business attire. They ran down the hall, putting on helmets. Why the helmets?

  Slade pressed another button on his watch.

  “Yes, Colonel?” came a voice.

  “Get as many soldiers as you can to Deck 7. We have a situation. Tell them to handle it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Slade winked at his own watch. “This ought to be good. This is primetime entertainment.” He hoped he see an altercation and some heads being blown off, mainly Ken’s.

  The politicians rushed down the hall and lined up two per room, one holding a holographic display device.

  Slade scrunched up his face. “Why are they lining up next to the troops’ sleeping barracks?”

  Ken stood in front of a military bunk room door with Govenor Boz Brown, a large African American man, known for his dedication to the Constitution and the people. Boz was considered an annoyance, always making it difficult for congress to pass any erroneous laws and bills the government tried to backslide past the American people on Earth. Boz, like Ken, was a hound when it came to protecting the people.

  Fuck them both.

  Boz held an HDC device in hand.

  Ken held up his hand, then dropped it.

  Slade turned up the sound.

  “Open the doors now,” said Ken.

  Boz inserted the swipe card in the control box next to the door.

  Phhst!

  The door slid open.

  Ken rushed in, Boz right behind him. “This is the United States government. This is not a drill,” Ken yelled.

  Slade knew that each bunk room had exactly twenty-six troops and grinned. This wasn’t going to be good for Ken.

  Every sleeping soldier in the room bolted upright, woken from a dead sleep, their eyes wild not knowing what was going on.