Across the Infinite Void
Journey to Ohmani
Ashley L. Grapes
Copyright © 2015 Ashley L. Grapes
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
978-0692286418
To Ryan…
…and all great and inspired loves that defy time and transcend universes.
CONTENTS
1
2
BEGINNING OF THE END
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
1
7
3
GOODBYE GROUND
27
4
ACROSS THE VOID
49
5
THE LAS VEGAS OF SPACE
63
6
IN THE HOTEL WITH A KNIFE
83
7
THE WATERDROME
99
8
TO KISS AN EAGLE
113
9
PRELIMINARY DISASTER
127
10
OHMANI ACADEMY HIGH
141
11
MANTYS TI
161
12
THE REVOLUTION LOUNGE
179
13
EXPLOSIVE POLITICS
197
14
A STAR IS BORN
215
15
TRUTH SETS YOU FREE
235
16
SNAKE IN THE GRASS
251
17
BEHIND THE METAL
271
18
THE EBBING TIDE
287
EPILOGUE
297
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost I would like to thank my parents, Vernon and Leann Grapes. Your unwavering love and support throughout my roller-coaster life is much-treasured. I thank you for showing me the importance of working hard and never giving up on my endeavors, as eclectic as they are.
Thank you to Michael Phillips, the front cover designer for this book. Mike is my brother-in-law, and is the most talented graphic designer I know. Seriously, contact him if you need anything hand drawn or computer designed…and pay him. He has a tendency to insist otherwise
www.mikephillipsart.org [email protected]
A big thanks to SaLydia James-Galang. Your friendship means the world to me. I hope one day I can be as good as a person and friend as you are to me. You have the biggest heart in the world, Ace. I love you!
Thank you Miguel Zarate. You have also been there for me through some of the toughest times, and somehow, always made anthills out of mountains. I cherish you, even if I do not cherish your ceviche.
Thank you to Jason Bajalia. The Casbah is a second home to me, and I am beyond grateful that you support me as a person, not just as a dancer.
Thank you to Brian Wechman, Stephen Williams, and John Babik. Your generous donation allowed me to make this project a reality. Everyone reading this book should know that Stephen was an immense help in the science behind this book. Your advice and knowledge made this novel (and the sequel) better, and for that I am so thankful!
Lastly, thank you to all of my friends and family who have supported my writing endeavors and inspired so many of this book’s characters– my Fletcher family, my Casbah family, my beach friends, my Kickstarter supporters and even my baby-dog, Mantis. You are all so awesome and I feel blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing individuals.
1 BEGINNING OF THE END
Pila Terry was hardly ever at the prestigious Stellar Grand hotel in the wee hours of the morning. She had landed back on the ground a couple hours ago after a week-long business trip to the Stellar Grand on Ohmani, and those flights always arrived at such unpredictable hours. After depositing her luggage at home, careful not to wake her sleeping daughter, she drove straight to the hotel even though she wasn’t on the schedule. Inner turmoil combined with jetlag had driven her to the spot where she now stood in the semi-dark, quiet linen room waiting for her best friend to come waltzing in for her opening shift.
Pila could have just called Axella, but she couldn’t risk their phone conversation being intercepted. Not with what she had discovered. Even so, she felt a little ridiculous standing there alone amongst soiled sheets and bleached pillow cases. She sighed. Her life had turned out so vastly different from what she expected or dreamed it would. For God’s sake, she had just come back to this small, sleepy town after visiting a double-decker city inside of an asteroid!
It was so easy to become used to this little earthbound tourist destination by the beach and its simple ways of living. Indeed, she would have been content living out her days as a hospitality technician in this small corner of the universe, but fate had pushed her out of that comforting routine and straight into chaos’ lair. Pila’s mind became inundated with memories of the sharp turns in her life that had been responsible for her current state of affairs. There were many, but the most relevant at the moment was the birth of Ohmani, originally named 12-Ferres, before it had been terraformed and turned into a mandatory port of customs for space travelers. But she was getting ahead of the story…
It was twenty-four years ago – she remembered because she had recently graduated college – when the Chilean-based E-ELT spotted the asteroid 12-Ferres on a straight trajectory towards Earth after being gravitationally deflected by a larger nearby space body. Pila remembered the first wild rumors and speculations that spread via social media and other outlets lacking serious credentials. However, before private companies and enthusiastic hobbyists with the means could point their instruments to the sky, NASA and the ESA had briefed a chosen few on the situation as it was known at the time – that 12-Ferres, an M-type asteroid of massive proportions, would reach Earth at its current relative velocity in nineteen months, and that it was highly likely to destroy planet Earth and every living thing upon it with no exceptions.
In the speeches that ensued in every country on the planet, there were no conspiracies, cover-ups or even cradling the reality in a swaddle of soft semi-truths. Pila vividly remembered world leaders urging their citizens to stay united, to rally all peoples and nations into peace and accord; to avoid massive panic and rioting which, strangely enough, they mostly did. The people of the United States of America had watched on their televisions as the president walked down the red carpet and past the ivory pillars to stand in front of the black podium. She gave her speech, and although strong and hopeful, at the end of it the universe seemed to mock the alabaster marble and intricate crown molding around her. Nature had declared war.
The problem was, Homo sapiens were a bit arrogant. Throughout time, the organism of humanity had stepped up to every adversity it had faced, adapted, and come out on top. Indeed, Pila remembered people continuing life as usual with a trusting glow that the end of the world would not occur during their lifetime – not with humanity’s triple threat of intellect, technology and faith. Many would even lay in bed at night, thinking about how lucky they would be to re-tell the story of how they lived during the time when the world united to triumph against a doomed end.
But 12-Ferres was already virtually in Earth’s backyard, her citizens now regretting not having supported a stronger space program as attempts to redirect or destroy the asteroid did little more than deflect the crash site from one location to another. Pila remembered how, over time, man’s confidence faded as operation after operation repeatedly failed. Confidence faded into worry, which quickly turned into fear, and finally settled into acceptance. For the first time in human history, ther
e was no more adapting, no more evolving. It was time to surrender; even she had felt it with everyone else.
A timeless feeling fell like a thick blanket over Earth as people eventually realized that their planet was no better than the other billions of planets in the cosmos. That their species were only different in that they had the serendipity of billions of years of neuronal evolution to understand what was about to happen. In the meantime, dogs sat at their owners’ feet with slobber flying from smiling jowls, happy the whole pack was together once again.
So the people of Earth had braced for the impact the best way they could. Some chose to end their life their own way, while others drowned in distracting pleasures. Most chose to savor their last moments with loved ones by turning off their personal technologies. Billions of people had huddled around fires, talking in the same antediluvian way as their ancestors and emotionally-baring themselves as freely and uninhibited as their cousin apes before them. Pila had been with the only family she knew – Axella, Kaylan, and Bockie.
Pila heaved a deep sigh at that thought. How quickly the lessons of open communication were forgotten. She had kept secrets from her daughter and was still feeling the brunt of Talon’s bitter disappointment. Pila debated the wisdom of withholding certain information until Talon was older; she had believed at the time it was the correct decision but now questioned her former logic. Lying and sneaking around was part of the reason she was in this linen room. Not anymore. She was going to tell Axella about what she had learned as soon as she walked through the door and then go home and do the same with her daughter. The truth shall set you free, as they say.
As Pila carried a heap of goods towards the closet near the back of the room, the story of how Ohmani came to be continued to play like a movie in her head. The knot in her stomach, she was confident, was not so different from the way the people of Earth felt in those last few moments before the asteroid was scheduled to strike. Many years ago, across the globe, monitors displayed the closing distance between 12-Ferres and Earth. Most watched the descending numbers as intensely as if the last ball was dropping in Times Square – and in fact it was. Millions stood in cities, churches, and living rooms trying desperately to savor what it felt to be alive. Lungs expanding with air, skin prickling with angst, muscles strained with adrenaline.
2000 Kilometers
1000 Kilometers
800 Kilometers
The screens and radios broadcasted in real time. People thought that was it – the end of humanity and all life on Earth. There had been no mountain high enough or underground bunker low enough to protect a single soul from the inevitable. That celestial monster was over five times the size of the one that finished off the dinosaurs. All around the world started the final ‘goodbyes,’ and the ‘I’ll see you on the other side’s; the embraces, and kisses, and tears.
600 Kilometers
400 Kilometers
It was time. 12-Ferres would soon be entering into Earth’s atmosphere and crash into the eastern Pacific. Massive tsunamis and a global firestorm would engulf the world in a mere thirty minutes. Many governments offered fast-acting anesthetic-type pills, which people began popping into their mouths like candy.
200 Kilometers
100 Kilometers
And then…
…the people of Earth were saved.
Pila sighed again, this time a small smile curling her lips ever so slightly as she remembered that moment. Nothing, she thought, was ever as bleak as it seemed. Not the situation with Talon, nor the one she discovered on Ohmani involving her long-time friend Axella. Pila was so engrossed in both her reminiscing and her planning on how she would handle both situations that she did not hear the assassin sneak up behind her. She barely had time to register the sharp snick of pain across her throat before she fell, silent and bloodied, to the floor of the supply closet.
2 THE ANNOUNCEMENT
“What? Ohmani? We’re moving to…space?” Levi Avondale roared, dragging out the last word with a whining that could put any toddler to shame. Levi, however, was eighteen. His mother, Axella, sat on their front porch wringing her hands desperately. Light brown curls caressed her cheekbones as she sat in a modest yellow sundress and beige sunhat that was entirely too big for her head. Levi was her only son, and she didn’t mean to upset him so. She had planned to break the news easy, even rehearsed exactly what she was going to say. Instead, the announcement of their impending move came rushing from her in a failed attempt at sensitivity. Then again, how could one ease a teenage boy into the reality of the situation? Failure had been inevitable.
Axella now hid underneath the wide brim of her hat, which flapped as restlessly as her heart. “Vi, the job position I’m being offered there is an amazing opportunity for us. It’s a supervisory position you know…a promotion,” she added, with a twinkle in her eye. “Besides, Ohmani is not space, really. Think of it as Earth’s 196th country.”
“It is out of Earth’s atmosphere and, therefore, in space,” he countered. Levi sat stunned for several moments before speaking again. “Can’t you get promoted at another Stellar Grand? Like on Earth maybe?” asked Levi breathlessly.
“There are no other positions as good as this one. They received over three hundred applications and it just posted yesterday. Can you believe that?” She sat biting her bottom lip, waiting in anticipation for her son’s cries of disapproval.
“When?” is all he said.
“Three days.”
“Oh God,” Levi breathed as softly as a prayer. “Mom, I’m a senior in high school. I’m trying to get a surfing scholarship.” His words came tumbling out in his haste to convince Axella that this move was a horrible idea. He knew he was wasting his breath, however, because Axella’s quiet and reserved demeanor was only a shell to the strong, independent woman she really was. If she decided the kitchen needed more light, a wall was being jack-hammered in the morning. If she decided her hair was getting a little dull, it was the color of fire and brimstone at the next available appointment. One unusually warm November a decade ago, she sat an eight-year old Levi down to explain she and his father were getting a divorce. Cheating men, unlike walls and hair, were not on her list of things that could be renovated.
“Maybe once we all settle in up there you’ll finally meet a nice girl that will help you forget about surfing for one day of your life,” cackled a voice from inside the house. The door to the sandstone veranda whipped open and out stepped a frail old woman carrying a tray of lemonade and sugar cookies shaped appropriately, if not a little insensitively, as stars and spaceships. She braced herself down into the yellow wicker chair with a cookie between her lips.
“Bockie’s coming?” Now Levi had to be dreaming. He strained to look into his grandmother’s hazel eyes through her obnoxious star-shaped sunglasses for any sign of jest. When nothing came but a small burp and some crumbs he shouted, “Mom, she’s ninety!”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, boy. And don’t you worry about me. Remember, I whooped cancer on its ass!” she crowed triumphantly.
Levi sighed dramatically and settled more comfortably into his chair, waiting for her to finish her favorite topic of discussion.
“If I can send breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, and gum cancer with its tail between the legs I can certainly handle a little star gazing. Come on boy, no fruit of my loins is going to be a big ol’ whinny!”
The last thing Levi wanted to do was think about his grandmother’s loins. The truth was Bockie barely weighed more than her age and the thought of her frail body enduring a star-trekking adventure made him angry with worry. Knowing his grandmother though, this space fiasco was probably her midlife adventure more so than her retirement plan.
“Mom,” Levi began calmly, deciding it best to take an entirely different approach, “Ohmani is in space. It’s cold and dark…and the crime! It’s like Miami in heat. You don’t really want to live there, do you? I know you’re excited and that’s great but this just isn
’t practical for us. There’s plenty of Stellar Grands all over the country. With your experience I’m sure you could even transfer to a different chain. I know what happened at the last job…sucks,” he regretted his insensitive choice of words concerning Pila Terry immediately, “but there are lots of other opportunities, right? I really need to stay here and get ready for my future. Come on, let’s just go back inside and we’ll find you a great job online.” He got up, almost convinced that tomorrow this was all going to be a nightmare.
“Sit down,” Bockie commanded as she flipped her sunglasses atop her faded frizzling red hair to pierce Levi with hazel eyes.
Although she had used surprising gentleness, Levi promptly accommodated as though she had barked the order.
“Now your mom’s not asking you, Levi Kai. She’s giving you ample warning, so cut the attitude. Kids these days, I swear.”
Even though he believed three days was anything but ample, he dared not counter her words. Bockie had a gemstone of a heart and loved Levi with all of it, but she never tried or cared to tumble away her sharp edges. Levi knew this, but sometimes it was hard not to be afraid of the woman.
“Let’s face it, boy. You don’t know what you want to do with your life other than surfing. It’s a shame you don’t act like a man despite all those muscles.” Bockie reached over to squeeze Levi’s bicep. “Here, have a cookie. Your mother’s had a tough time lately after what happened to that woman at the hotel. All that blood…poor thing. She finally found something she’s excited about. A new beginning for all of us.” She continued directing her gaze to the sky. “If you’re lucky like me and you survive all your cancers, you’ll live to the ripe old age of ninety. My bet is you’ll miss your mother and me and wish you hadn’t been such a nincompoop at this very moment.” She sat back in her chair clearly satisfied with her discombobulated speech and grabbed another sugar cookie.
Journey to Ohmani (Across the Infinite Void Book 1) Page 1
