Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set

by Brandon Ellis

  “Stop,” yelled Doctor Andrea Cross. She bent over him, her eyes full of concern. “You pull that out and you might bleed to death, especially if it dug into your inferior vena cava vein.” She gestured to a few troops.

  They lifted him up and escorted him to a room nearby.

  Andrea was already inside, a syringe in her hand. She flicked it a couple of times. “Put him on the table and leave.”

  The soldiers did and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

  She jabbed the syringe in his stomach and pressed on the syringe’s plunger, pushing clear liquid into his body. She tossed the syringe into a waste basket. She grabbed the forceps from the table and strode over to Fox. She clutched the shrapnel with her forceps, and pulled the piece of metal out of his skin.

  “Agh!” Slade stiffened. “Damn, doc.”

  She placed a cloth over the wound to stop the bleeding, then gave Slade an odd look. “Wait a minute. What is this?” She pulled the cloth away.

  Slade glanced down at his wound. It coagulated quickly, too quickly. It hardened and scabbed. “I’ve never healed so fast. What the hell is going on?”

  “Do you think it’s Jaxx’s blood?” She nodded, answering her own question. “It has to be.”

  “You’re kidding me.” Slade held a big smile. “I’m invincible? I mean, you should have seen it. I was practically in the middle of a Goddamn explosion and I came out almost unscathed.”

  “Our next step is to figure out how to manipulate energy like Jaxx does.”

  “Amid this mutiny?”

  “Yes.”

  “Shit.” He thought for a moment, and of all things he pictured himself back in Deck 5’s West End Gym, doing curls, flexing his biceps. He wished he could just work out instead of shooting the shit out the mutiny-troops, but things were complicated. He touched his hardened scab on his stomach, a surge of Chi entering his body, making him feel good and powerful. “We start my training just as soon as I have this mutiny a bit more under control.”

  28

  Somewhere in Tennessee, United States ~ Earth

  Mya had cooled from raging hot to pleasantly warm. Drew picked her up, laying her limp body against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder, one arm under her thighs, the other against her back, stabilizing her head.

  A Range Rover pulled up, almost skidding to a halt, gravel splashing across Drew’s legs.

  It was Anderle. The guy needed to learn how to drive.

  T-hacker opened the passenger door and hurried out, opening the back door for Drew. Drew got in, sliding across the leather bucket seat in the back. He held Mya tight, trying to make sure she didn’t fall forward.

  She was out like a light, her breathing slow, though steady.

  T-hacker shut the door, then jumped in, shutting his own door in the process.

  “We ride,” said Anderle. He pressed the pedal to the floor and spun out, barely avoiding the flaming Range Rover in front of them.

  Drew glanced at Mya’s head, then eyed Anderle in the rear-view mirror. “Did you see what she did?” A VHF, very high frequency, radio was screwed into the dashboard. It was a hand-held gadget he’d seen in boats, similar to CB, citizen band, radio in semi-trucks. It was good for long distances and emergencies.

  Anderle nodded his head frantically. “Sure as shit I did. She has powers man. I’m telling you, we get her father here, her powers go up ten-fold. I was going to use her on my team, but now we have other shit to figure out and that shit is to survive those ET’s flying through the portals. Mya is our secret weapon.”

  “What?” asked Drew, not quite comprehending this new sci-fi reality hitting his life. Heck, hitting every person’s life on the face of earth.

  “Yeah,” responded T-hacker. “Ships that came through the portal above the Pyramids of Giza are heading our way, man. They are heading toward the United States. You should see the mess they created in Egypt and North Africa. And these ships aren’t just appearing over Egypt. They are all over the map.”

  Anderle skidded around a curve, pinning Drew against the door for a moment. He straightened the car out and gave T-hacker a light punch in the shoulder. “You got the remote ready?”

  T-hacker held it up. “Yep.”

  “Are you going to tell me where we are going?” Drew said.

  Thrump Thrump Thrump Thrump!

  Drew glanced up through the sun roof. In the gaps in the forest canopy, he could see a helicopter coming in low.

  “We’re heading to the helicopter,” said T-hacker.

  “Can you be a little more specific? Why are you heading for a helicopter?” questioned Drew.

  Anderle glanced in his rear-view mirror. “You’ll see soon enough, Drew.”

  They drove in silence for several hours on a gravel back road. Sometimes the helicopter came in view and other times it was nowhere to be seen. There was no rhyme or reason to why that was and Anderle drove as if he had a destination in hand. He never once looked up at the helicopter and when the helicopter was in sight, he never gave it so much as a glance.

  Finally, Anderle slowed, turning off on a beaten roadway that quickly turned into an area that hadn’t been driven on in years. The car bounced up and down, driving over small saplings, brush, and over grassy embankments.

  A minute later, they stopped.

  Anderle turned off the car and swung his door open. “We’ve got a surprise in that helicopter. Get out and watch this,” said Anderle.

  The helicopter sounded closer.

  Drew pushed his door open and held Mya as they ascended a small hill, T-hacker and Anderle leading the way. “What do you have in your hand?”

  “What? This?” T-hacker held a remote controller in his hand with two joysticks. “You’ll see.”

  Drew was tired of all the secrecy. They crested the hill and got low in a crouch. Down below was a man in handcuffs, blindfolded, with two Chinese soldiers next to him, their hands around his arms. A black car was parked next to them.

  The trees bent back and forth as the chopper came in for a landing.

  Drew covered Mya with his arms and hands, doing his best to keep her warm from the helicopter’s rushing wind.

  It touched down and Drew moved up on the hill a little more to catch a better glimpse of the proceedings below.

  T-hacker pushed the remote controller in front of him, laying it on the ground, and put both hands on the joysticks.

  Anderle pressed a button on the controller. “Don’t forget to turn it on.”

  T-hacker looked at the digital gauge, then put his thumbs up. “We’re hooked in. Ready to go whenever they are.”

  “What are you doing?” asked Drew.

  Anderle lay in watch as well. “That guy down there in handcuffs? Well, that’s Mya’s dad. Me and General Lin Yu had him kidnapped just before Yu went all psycho on us. The Chinese down there obviously don’t know that Yu is dead, so their mission is still moving ahead as planned and on schedule. Better yet, what they don’t know is that we’ve got the helicopter hooked up to our remote controller. General Lin Yu’s peeps down there think they’ll be taking Master Sergeant Angel Segarra to Lookout Mountain to meet up with Yu. We think not.”

  “So, you have this remote here hooked up to the helicopter’s flight system? Where are you going to take him?” inquired Drew.

  Anderle put his finger up. “Hold on.”

  The Chinese soldiers ushered the man inside the helicopter’s cabin. They shut the door and rushed back to the black car, turned it on, and slowly drove away. The helicopter lifted off, the wind whipping the grass against Drew’s face, then flew over the trees and toward Lookout Mountain.

  T-hacker sat up, adjusting his controller. “Turning off radio communication. Checking speed.” He moved the joystick. “And turning them around.”

  Anderle stood. “Let’s get back to the car.”

  They ran down the hill and piled into the Range Rover, T-hacker controlling the helicopter overhead, moving it nort
hwest.

  “How can you tell where you are flying?” said Drew, reaching the car, holding Mya and getting inside.

  “Two ways,” said T-hacker, sitting on the passenger seat. “I have contacts in my eyes which are connected to a camera I installed underneath the helicopter’s nose. And, I can see from here.” He held up the remote controller. A small screen was atop the controller, showing him a map of where the helicopter was at all times.

  Anderle reversed, running over a small, spindly maple tree, then spun the Rover around. A young family, a skinny man and a woman with two small children were all wearing clothes that didn’t scream homeless, held out dirty plates and cups. They were literally begging for food. Out in the woods?

  Anderle drove past them, not giving them the time of day.

  “Stop and let them in. They need help.”

  Anderle grimaced. “You’ll see a lot of that Drew. The United States is going to shit in a handbag. Everyone is out of work. It’s the wild west again. No food in the grocery stores, but this time around people don’t know how to hunt and gather food anymore.”

  Drew turned his body as best he could while holding Mya, to look back at the pathetic beggars. The people had simply moved on, walking into the forest, except for one small boy. He sat and wept. “Please go back and get them.”

  “No. We’re heading to Whitefish, Montana. That’s the safest place in the United States right now. We’ll have a high-ranking Marine to help us get inside.”

  “That Marine is Angel Segarra?” asked Drew.

  Anderle shrugged. “Do not tell anyone about Mya’s power or the fact that she is even stronger around her dad. Got it?” Anderle glanced at T-hacker. “Radio it in?”

  He grabbed the remote off of its magnetic hold. He pressed a few buttons, tuning it to the right channel.

  “Notify the Marines that Master Sergeant Angel Segarra is en-route to Sumner County Regional Airport via a helicopter. Let them know we need them and to send some troops to said airport. Tell them we’re in a white Range Rover. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  Drew fished inside his pants pocket for a doobie. Of course, his pockets were empty. They had been for weeks.

  God, he needed a puff.

  29

  Near Taiyo Orbit, Sector 9 ~ Galactic Arm, Milky Way Galaxy

  Jaxx spun in space. His jumpsuit and helmet regulated his temperature with a built-in heating and cooling system, keeping him warm in the deep, dark void’s terrible freeze. He checked his oxygen levels, then realized he had no gauge to check. He had no idea how long he had to live. Hours? Minutes? Seconds?

  “Hello, Zara? Anyone?”

  His heart raced. He took slow, shallow breaths, doing his best not to take up too much oxygen. He didn’t want to run out before his rescuers came – if they came.

  “Yo, Zara? Abdu?”

  No one was answering his calls.

  A light flashed by and he started to spin faster, as if he was nudged. But he didn’t feel anyone or anything touch him.

  “Dare, desuka?” A familiar voice came over Jaxx’s helmet comm line.

  “Kiyo-zan?” It sounded like Kiyo, a Taiyonian he befriended during his time on Taiyo.

  “Hai, watashi desu.”

  Jaxx put his thumb up, doing his best to crack a smile under this terrible spinning duress. “I’m getting a bit dizzy. Can you pick me up?”

  “Hai, soo desu ze.”

  “Thank you.”

  Another flash zipped by him, then a pulling sensation enveloped his body accompanied with a pretty nasty tug.

  “Whoa! Slow it down there, Kiyo-zan.”

  “Gomen’nasai.”

  “You’re sorry? Well, don’t be. You’re saving my life.” Jaxx’s body stopped spinning and he faced a small Taiyonian transport ship. It’s side door was open, a tractor beam turret bolted on the inside of the transport ship’s cabin.

  The tractor beam slowly sucked him in.

  Jaxx looked down at his feet hovering in the blackness of space and finally over the lip of the ship’s opening. The tractor beam shifted on its turret, and the nose moved down and gently set Jaxx on his feet. His boots automatically magnetized to the cabin’s floor and the door closed. The cosmos disappeared from view, a silver door now in its place. The cabin hissed and filled with oxygen.

  He took a step toward the cockpit and halted in front of a metallic wall that separated the cockpit from the cabin. A red-light highlighted the barrier. The wall clicked and the light turned to a light blue just as a crease opened up down the middle of the wall, splitting it in two, turning it into a door.

  Fffffcha!

  The door spread apart, each section sucking into the transport ship’s side walls.

  Kiyo-zan stood from his captain’s chair, a big smile on his face, teeth shining, reminding Jaxx of the pristine health of all those living on Taiyo.

  Jaxx took off his helmet and dropped it on the floor. “Kiyo-zan!” He lifted his arms out wide and so did Kiyo-zan.

  They wrapped their arms around each other, giving one another a nice, long bear hug.

  “Wareware wa anata zo nogashita. Anata zi aitakatta. Mōichido ai zi kite ureshīdesu.”

  “I missed you and all those on Taiyo as well. Nice to see you again, buddy.”

  They let go and Jaxx slapped Kiyo-zan’s shoulders, getting another good look at him, like a father to a long, lost son. “You haven’t aged a bit.”

  “Watashitachi wa toshi zo toranai,” explained Kiyo-zan.

  “Yeah, I know you don’t age. Could you rub some of that anti-aging mojo on me?”

  Kiyo-zan touched Jaxx’s third eye. “Rōka wa anata zo kokoronouchi dakedesu. Sono shin'nen zo yamereba, anata wa rōka zo tomerudeshou.”

  “I know, I know.” Jaxx nodded his head up and down with his lips upturned. “Age is all in my mind. An unhealthy belief system. That still doesn’t tell me anything about anti-aging, my man.”

  Kiyo-zan sat behind the control stick, motioning for Jaxx to take a seat at the co-pilot’s chair. Once Jaxx was seated, Kiyo-zan dipped his head. “Yuko!”

  Kiyo-zan pressed the stick forward and in seconds, planet Taiyo came into view, the blue glow of its unpolluted oceans accompanied by its lush, green terrain lit up the cosmos, stars twinkling in the distance behind it. It was a spectacle to be seen, only matched by Earth.

  In minutes, they had entered the Taiyo heliosphere. Kiyo-zan tilted the transport ship to a forty-five degree angle and turned on anti-gravity drives, making the transition from space into the Taiyonian atmosphere smooth and simple.

  Below, the four legged Kimos – cat-like animals the size of elephants with blue turtle shells – ran with speed and agility across a verdant green plateau, heading toward the jungle. A herd of Misa – similar to ostriches, though pink flamingo in color – followed, like children after their parents.

  In the distance was a vast city over a lake. The lake was clear and had an inner glow, all azure hues and Mediterranean blues. It was late morning and the sun shone down on the city, which glimmered like a shimmering artwork; another reminder of how beautiful this city and this planet truly was – a true marvel.

  The city’s outer rim had small domes equivalent to the size of three or four-story buildings. Attached to each dome was a fully-covered walkway or roadway that attached to larger domes toward the center of the city. The closer to the center of the city the bigger the domes became. The largest dome was directly in the middle.

  Crafts flew above the city, some entering through openings in the domes, others exiting.

  “God, I missed this place. So calm. So serene,” Jaxx spoke more to himself than to Kiyo-zan.

  Kiyo-zan veered right, brows furrowed. He gave Jaxx a fearful look.

  “What’s going on, Kiyo-zan?”

  Kiyo-zan pointed to the sky. A dark cloud was moving in, red lightning electrifying in and out of it. “Agadon za kite iru.”

  “That’s the Agadon?”

  Kiyo-zan
nodded.

  “That’s a fucked-up cloud. Explain to me how that’s the Agadon?”

  “Karera wa piramiddonettowāku zo shiyō shite imasu.”

  “They are entering through the pyramid network here as well?” Jaxx shook his head. “The doesn’t explain the strange looking cloud, Kiyo-zan.”

  “Watashitachi wa sorera zo oshimodosou to shite imasu. Ugoite inai.”

  “Yeah, your technology is pushing them back? That’s what creates the cloud? Will that actually work?”

  “Īe, soreha dōsa shimasen.”

  “Yeah, didn’t think that would work for long. At least it delays them.”

  Kiyo-zan lowered the craft, entering through a dome. Hills with flowing rivers, waterfalls, and hovering sail boats careened around the inner sanctum of the dome. Hanging vines of purple flowers hung from the walls. The peace and beauty made the chaos about to come that much worse.

  He sighed.

  Kiyo-zan pulled the craft into a fly-way, a tunnel attaching one dome to another until they exited out the other side, entering an even larger dome. Several Leonian vessels and combat-mechs were parked around a pointed sky scraper reaching high into the dome.

  Kiyo-zan went in for a landing and hovered. The ship shuddered when the landing gear touched the earth. Kiyo-zan opened the cabin door. He unstrapped and rushed outside. “Yuko! Yuko!”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. Hold your trousers.” Jaxx jumped out of the transport and raced after Kiyo-zan, his boots sinking into the soft, mossy grass.

  Kiyo-zan threw the sky-scraper main doors open. The High Queen was sitting with Zara and Abdu, giving the new arrivals a pained, watery gaze. The queen dipped her head to Kiyo-zan, then stood and bowed to Zara and Abdu. She quickly left the room, racing through another door.

  “There is no time to rest, Jaxx,” said Zara. “Another battle with the Agadon is on the way. High Queen Emi says they are manipulating the pyramid network the best way they can, attempting to disrupt the Agadon entry through their planet’s atmosphere.”