Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set

by Brandon Ellis

  “That’s the girl,” said a guy walking from another section of the ship and into the ship’s cabin where Drew and the children lay. He glanced up. It was Anderle. The fucker was on this craft? He hadn’t seen Anderle since he and T-hacker had bolted from Anderle’s “hideout” with Mya in tow. That Anderle guy could not be trusted.

  “Yep, that’s her.” T-hacker came into view.

  Drew’s mouth dropped, and he reached out with his good hand, squeezing Anderle’s wrist, again gulping down more vomit. “Don’t touch her.”

  Anderle tilted his head. “Drew? You’re awake? Hi, buddy.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Anderle sat on the rim of a cot next to him, where a child lay. “This is my new job, Drew. I’m part owner of your dad’s business. Recruited earlier today.” He patted Drew’s head. He tapped a device-looking microphone attached around his ear and to his lower jaw. “Guards, we have another worthy child for our exports.”

  Drew pulled away, then let out a loud yelp. The pain jumped all over his body.

  Anderle’s eyes went wide and T-hacker stepped a few paces back. A violet haze entered the cabin.

  Drew lifted his head. Mya had walked up the ramp and was in the craft, making her way toward them. Somehow the glowing aura around her grew bigger with every step.

  “Go, Mya. Don’t come in here,” warned Drew.

  What was she doing? Didn’t she know she’d get herself caught?

  A guard, with Dr. Andrea Cross by his side, shuffled into the room, standing where the cockpit and the cabin met. He withdrew his gun. “Step back, little girl.”

  Mya shook her head, and moved closer.

  Dr. Andrea gently pushed the guard’s gun away from Mya, aiming it at the floor. “I think this is her.”

  “Who?” asked the guard.

  Anderle laughed. “Keep her for tests, Andrea. This girl has some strange voodoo shit going on with her.”

  Dr. Andrea nodded. “You read my mind, Anderle. Now get out of my cabin and back into the storage where I asked you to stay.”

  Anderle shut his mouth quickly, huffing. T-hacker pulled Anderle out of the room and around the corner.

  “Mya,” Drew shook his head. “Get out of here.”

  Mya didn’t say a word, and kept her eyes trained on the doctor.

  “That’s a good girl. Come here,” said Andrea, motioning her to come closer. She glanced over her shoulder to the guard, whispering, “That has to be her. It has to be.”

  Mya put her hand up, and smiled, walking even closer.

  A click, and the ship vibrated. A low hum cut across the cabin. The ramp began to close.

  Mya thrust her hand in the ramp’s direction. The hum ceased, and the vibrating stopped. The ramp dropped to the ground.

  Andrea gasped. “She has Jaxx’s powers. How does she have Jaxx’s powers? I’d even say she’s more powerful.” She clutched her chest as if she was proud of the little girl. “We need tests.” She bent down, putting her hand out. “Now, come on sweetie. Let us close the ramp door, too. Okay?”

  Mya shook her head and made her way to the back edge of Drew’s cot. She touched Drew’s foot and closed her eyes.

  The guard stepped forward in a rush and Andrea put a hand against his chest. “No, no. This is part of testing. Let’s see what she has in store for us.”

  A tingling went up Drew’s leg, through his abdomen, and into his shoulder. A warm sensation swirled around his injury and a heat encapsulated Drew’s body. He winced, not in pain, but because of the sweat that started seeping like a faucet out of his pores.

  His shoulder involuntarily shifted inward, accompanied with a crunch and a sharp pain. In seconds, the rush, the blinding ache, and everything negative associated with his shoulder disappeared.

  Mya patted his foot. “All better.” She stood, her head and face now defiant, her eyes like a devil ready to pounce. “Take the seatbelts off of him.”

  Drew shifted in the cot. No pain. None whatsoever. He understood why they wanted to hold her for testing, but he was no asshole; he was never going to let that happen.

  “You may point your gun at her again,” responded Andrea, crossing her arms at her chest. The guard lifted his phaser. “Now, darling. Don’t put me in a pickle here. I want to keep you alive.”

  Mya slowly lifted her arm and even more slowly, swept her arm around the cabin, the violet energy becoming a bit thicker.

  The children stirred in their cots, waking up.

  “Take the seatbelts off of them, as well,” demanded Mya.

  “Now, dear. I can’t take the restraints off.” Andrea tapped her toe, becoming noticeably irritated. “I’m going to count to three. If you don’t surrender yourself, and for the safety of my friends on this ship, I’m going to have to blow your brains out. Do you understand, little girl?”

  Mya dropped her hands by her side, shaking her head.

  “One,” counted Andrea. She took a step behind the guard that targeted Mya.

  Mya got down on her knees, her hands curling into fists.

  “Two,” continued Andrea.

  Mya shook her head again and dropped her chin to her chest, taking in a heaving breath.

  “Thr –”

  Mya screamed and her head lurched backward and her back arched. A wave of energy blasted from her chest. The guard was picked up and thrown against a wall, Andrea with him. He smashed the doctor, and Andrea’s head clanked against a metallic beam, knocking her out cold.

  The guard, now unconscious, dropped his gun.

  The ship’s lights blinked off, the engine’s low purr ceased, and a bustle of guards ran into the cabin, barking orders here and there.

  Everything was pitch black, and Drew couldn’t see a damn thing. He heard a slap, and someone fell to the ground. A bright glow emanated in the middle of the room, violet as well and obviously coming from Mya. A phaser went off, then a gun fell, clacking against the ground.

  A grunt, and a guard went flying across the room, slamming into a control panel. Sparks shot out of the wall, dying down a few seconds later.

  A snap, and all of the lights in the cabin came on.

  Drew squinted, his eyes adjusting to the brightness. He looked around the room. Mya was crouched and in the same place she was before the lights went out. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wild and full of rage, sweat dripping off of her forehead and hair.

  She slowly stood, her fists still at her side.

  And to Drew’s complete surprise, a dozen men and women were on the ground, out cold. T-hacker and Anderle were among them, sleeping or dead. Drew didn’t know, didn’t care. He just wanted out of this flying vehicle.

  “Megan,” he gulped, remembering his injured friend in the bar. “We have to help her. She’s dying.”

  Mya dipped her head. “You will rule with her.”

  Drew furrowed his brow, cocking his head to the side. “Rule with her?” What an odd thing to say.

  Mya rushed to him, quickly unstrapping him. “Help me with the other children, Drew.”

  He unstrapped his ankle restraints and hurried from cot to cot, child to child, freeing the confused, scared kids.

  “Go, run to your mommies,” Drew said, pushing one child after another to their feet, watching them hustle down the ramp and into the darkness of night.

  Mya grabbed Drew’s hand. “They’ll be safe.” She jerked him toward the exit. “We have to make it to the one who will rule with you.”

  “The one who will what?” He ran down the ramp, picking up Mya, holding her on his hip. She grabbed a hold tightly.

  He ran as fast as he could, dashing across the park. Megan was down and hopefully still alive. Drew slowed for a moment, feeling Mya shivering.

  “Are you okay?”

  She was crying. “I don’t want to kill anyone, Drew. No more.”

  “What do you mean, Mya?” Drew took a left between two buildings, his feet taking him across the concrete and toward Megan’s bar.

/>   “I have killed a lot of bad people, and people not from Earth. They are still trying to get in to this place, but I keep hurting them, keep killing them.” She rested her head between Drew’s neck and shoulder, sobbing.

  “You’re protecting us, Mya. You’re protecting your dad, too.”

  She shook her head. “No, my dad wants me to keep doing this. He says I’m the only hope for Earth, and it’s not true.” She cried even more, her words almost incoherent. “There are others. There is you. There is another that you know.”

  “Who, Mya, who?”

  “Jaxx.”

  Drew almost stopped dead in his tracks. How did she know about Jaxx? And how could Jaxx possibly be able to do what Mya does, or help Earth? Was Jaxx even alive?

  “My dad wants me to do it all. It’s impossible. He doesn’t trust anyone else. He doesn’t think others are like me. We have to get Jaxx here. We have to.”

  “How? Where is he?” Drew jumped over a curb and onto a sidewalk. He could see the bar up ahead.

  Mya shook her head, her tears wetting Drew’s neck. “I don’t know.” She tensed, her body curling into a ball as Drew held her. She let out another scream.

  A loud blast and a massive ball of heat pressed into Drew. He stumbled and fell off the sidewalk, dropping Mya. He landed in the street, sliding on his side. He glanced up at a ball of fire erupting behind several buildings. It was in the direction they had come. It was in the direction of the ship he had just been on.

  He pushed himself up. Mya was on the ground, her eyes closed, her body perspiring even more.

  He scooped her up. He wanted to peek around the corner to see if it was indeed the ship that blew. In a way, he hoped it was. It would be another thing off his chest. Having a gang of people chasing him around the city, along with weird aliens trying to blow up the city, was too much.

  He held Mya in his arms and sprinted to the bar. He pushed open the door, glad to see the lights were still on, and Megan in the corner breathing.

  Or was she?

  A pang hit his heart and he cautiously moved forward. The last thing he wanted was Megan to be dead.

  “Megan?” he said.

  No answer.

  Her face was pale, her lips blue.

  She was dead. She had to be. He looked at Mya, who he still had in his arms. She was fast asleep. Maybe she could bring Megan back. He wiggled Mya, tapped on her head, and poked her ribs.

  No response.

  Drew exhaled and sank to the floor, his forehead against his palm, his other arm holding Mya. “Mom, for once, answer me. Tell me what to do when I actually ask.”

  He waited for a few seconds. But no whisper, no sweet words from beyond the veil came to him. He was alone.

  A creak came from the stairs that led into the basement. He craned his neck. Another creak, and a hard boot landed on a stair. Someone was coming up.

  Metallic laughter came from the staircase. No, it was robotic laughter. Another step up and a louder creak, and a man came into view. He was bald, had blue-ashen skin, his lips gray, his eyes dark. He wore a jumpsuit with chords and wires coming out of the suit and attaching to his neck and head. He was smeared with blue blood, or perhaps it was paint.

  Most importantly, this guy wasn’t of this world.

  Now, and most definitely now, a big-ass blunt was in order.

  27

  J-Quadrant, Solar System - Nearing Namuh Farms, Callisto

  “This guy is like a damn kid without his candy,” said Fox, pressing his gun under Okbak’s chin. “Now, tell your troops to open up the walled city that we’re coming up to and to hold fire.”

  Okbak, laying on the ground, his leg uncomfortably strapped into a seat, shook his head. “You give me more credits, and I’ll make that order.”

  Fox pressed harder into Okbak’s chin. “You don’t give that order, and you can kiss all of your galactic credits goodbye.”

  Okbak gave him an odd look.

  “The Kelhoon are very literal, Fox,” said Jaxx.

  Fox frowned.

  “You said he could ‘kiss his galactic credits goodbye.’ He thinks you mean it literally.”

  Fox leaned in close, so his eyes were level with Okbak’s. “Give the order for your troops to cease fire or I will take all your credits and shove them up your ass.”

  Jaxx turned in his seat to stare out the cockpit window. A city, glowing in the night, had come into view. Slade’s energy signature was there, meaning Slade was hunkered down in a nice-looking, newly-built city that was teaming with green trees that didn’t match the small, spindly trees on the rest of Callisto.

  Fox rolled his eyes at Okbak. “What I’m saying is if you don’t give the order to halt all battles with all Humans, then I’ll shoot you and kill you. You will die. Yes, die, die, die. And because you’ll be dead, you won’t be able to spend the fortune that Taz, the ugly-ass Agadon, gave you. Does that make a lick of sense, prime fuck-face?”

  “You won’t kill me,” hissed Okbak. “I’m your shield.”

  “You’ll be a pile of rubble if you don’t tell your people to stand down when we fly to this here city,” reiterated Jaxx.

  Okbak merely stared at him.

  “What I’m saying is that we’ll be shot down by the Kelhoon in that city if you don’t tell them to not, and I repeat, to not shoot us down. Got it?”

  “How many damned times do we have to say the same damned thing before you get it through your damned scaly hide?” yelled Fox.

  Okbak twitched his nose, most likely not liking the prospects of being blown to bits. He tapped the back of his ear. “This is prime chieftain, Kajka Okbak, your leader. I’m flying in a Kelhoon transport and nearing Namuh Farms. Open the gates, stand the cannons down, and allow me safe passage into the city.” He held a hand over his ear, then nodded. “It is done.”

  Fox got up and walked back to the co-pilot seat, and sat next to Kiyo-zan. He patted Kiyo-zan’s back. “We’re safe to fly through.”

  Jaxx closed his eyes, concentrating on Slade’s energy. “Slade is underground someplace. It’s under the largest skyscraper.” He opened his eyes and strolled to the cockpit. “Somebody else is with him. It’s a male. Human.”

  Fox glared out the window. “Who would be with him?”

  “I don’t know.” Jaxx rested his hands on Fox’s headrest, and pointed. “There. You see it? Land this bird right next to that big-ass skyscraper.”

  The building was massive, and there would be no way Kiyo-zan could miss that. Kiyo-zan dipped his head. “Hai, soo desu ne.”

  “You have to go through the city gates first,” said Fox.

  Kiyo-zan lowered the craft, heading toward two doors in the city walls that were the same size and width of the city walls. He tapped a few holographic buttons, and monitored his approach by staring at a screen in front of him, and then out the window, and again at the screen.

  Jaxx leaned forward. “Glad we didn’t try to fly over the walls. You see that?” A slight haze domed the city.

  “A shield,” responded Fox. “We’d be a sizzling pile of shit if we tried to go through that.” He grunted and massaged his fists.

  Jaxx could tell that all Fox had in mind was screwing Slade’s face up, most likely ending the guy’s life. It would be harder than Fox could ever imagine.

  The city doors opened outward. Several Kelhoon soldiers stood on platforms built into the doors’ city side. They worked on holo-computers. They all stood when they saw the ship flying into the city. They punched their chests, then raised a fist in the air. Their leader had arrived.

  Fox turned in his chair. “Your soldiers are saluting you, Okbak. Brings a tear to my eye.” He smirked and turned back around.

  They flew past the open door, and over domed buildings, and by skyscrapers that were lined by empty streets. A hover-train zipped down a road, perhaps carrying a load of Kelhoon warriors, then curled around a building, and down another side street. A large castle stood in the middle of the city, surrounde
d by dull-looking warehouses.

  Help me, Jaxx.

  Jaxx cocked his head to the side. He turned toward Zara and took a seat. Zara was watching Okbak, making sure he was staying in line.

  Find me.

  A strange sensation came over Jaxx. He buried his head in his hands, searching for the mysterious voice. It was weak. Injured. Most importantly, the source of the voice was nearby.

  An energetic map of the city came to Jaxx’s mind. He moved from building to building, scanning for life forms that were in danger.

  In his mind, he came upon a crowd of Kelhoon congregated at a building close to one of the city’s massive walls. A flash of red, huddled in a room on the third floor of a six-story building, blinked on and off, then vanished. His gut twisted. That precious flash of red was soon to be overrun by the Kelhoon amassing on that floor.

  It was Rivkah. But where were Bogle and Abdu? They should be with her. And how did her energy vanish like that?

  Jaxx swung around, viewing the city through the cockpit window. He rushed to the cockpit, surveying the buildings. “There,” he motioned toward a building next to one of the massive side walls. “Rivkah is in there. Change direction. We’re heading to that building. We hover next to a third-floor window. I’ll tell you exactly where when we get there.”

  Kiyo-zan pulled a sharp right, changing direction.

  Jaxx ran back to the ship’s aft ramp. “Let’s back in toward the window. I’ll open the ramp when ready.”

  Fox unstrapped and stood. “The hell we will.” He pounded his fist on the seat. “You turn this bucket back around. We stay on course and get Slade.”

  “That will come next,” replied Jaxx, his hand resting on the ramp open switch. “I think I found Rivkah’s energy. She is in that building and needs our help.”

  “You think you found her?” responded Fox. “All you have is that you think you found her? That’s the basis of us changing our plans?” He scowled. “Let me tell you something, Jaxx. I’ve been doing your shit, your favors, and have been your Goddamn major help during our time on Callisto.” Spit came out of his mouth when he spoke. He took slow steps toward Jaxx. “And this is how you thank me? No, this is how you thank us? By again doing what you want, instead of what we want?” He threw a punch in the air. “Not now, not today, Jaxx. We are going after Slade. That is the consensus.”