The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus

by Carolyn Davidson Hicks

  The Chronicles

  of

  Syra

  Carolyn Davidson Hicks

  CDH Publishing

  Editor, John B Hicks

  www.carolyndavidsonhicks.com

  Copyright © 2019 Carolyn Davidson Hicks

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9781731139733

  Imprint: Independently published

  Legal Notice

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Introduction

  Syra traveled from an Earth-like planet named Zhian that had lost all its resources and had become uninhabitable because of quakes and volcanic eruptions. With little time to spare, she needed to save her people and herself. She would be one of the last of the Zhians to escape her planet. She would hold the most precious cargo of all time in her ship. Earth was their last best hope and for those that traveled with her!

  Syra was anxious to contact Earth’s inhabitants, but she knew it must not happen before the Zhians or the inhabitants of Earth were ready. She was wanted to share her Zhian technologies with Earth and make a permanent home for her and her people.

  But the existence of aliens from another world put fear in the hearts of many who did not understand, and those in political power fought against them. To force the issue without incident, it would take nothing less than a landing on the White House lawn and an alien arrival they could not deny nor cover up!

  Syra resettled on Earth II when she left Earth. But she did not abandon it. As she established a new society back on Earth, the government ha collapsed and the three settlements of freedom Syra had left with Zhian technologies so they could reestablish the American government would take many years rebuilt.

  A great battle with an age-old enemy did not stop Syra from helping her people or Earth and she eventually returns to Earth to assist the rebuilding of the society in America and would bring more humans to Earth II as part of her program to protect the human race.

  This is the story of the chronicles of Syra from the planet Zhian to Earth and then on to Earth II.

  CONTENTS

  Book One

  Syra, The Arrival

  1

  Chapters 1 through 14

  Book Two

  Syra, Race Against Time

  207

  Chapters 1 through 10

  Book Three

  Syra, The Awakening

  399

  Chapters 1 through 8

  About the author

  The terminology used in the series

  Other books by the author

  syra, the arrival

  book one

  chapter one

  Tormented by the violent shaking, thunderous rumbling sounds, and smells of the planet burning from the inside out, Syra found herself in a cold dead night sweat. The smell of death was in the air and time itself was up. All sirens were now sounding full blast!

  Then from the holocom unit, a call came in.

  “Wake up Syra!” Allieah said.

  “Mother, I just need a little more time in the sleeper,” Syra answered.

  “You must start preparations for your journey. Now hurry, there is no time to waste!” Arteemus demanded.

  “Yes father,” Syra answered reluctantly.

  “I see your dreams are more frequent now, time is of the essence my darling. Now hurry, you have a lot to do!” Allieah said softly.

  “But I can’t use the sleeper stasis right now, I don’t dream in it!” Syra complained.

  Syra exited her sleeper unit and was up in a flash.

  She hurriedly stepped inside the cleanser unit and without a drop of water, her hair and body were clean. Within moments she felt refreshed and awake. Syra had heard of how her ancestors once used a water shower but what a waste of such a precious resource!

  She then slipped inside her second skin which fit perfectly and displayed her upper status as captain of her own vessel. No one on Zhian was ever allowed to step outside their private quarters and not be wearing their second skin. It could mean the difference between life and death. This was their protection and their lifeline should they require assistance. It had a direct link to the holocom medical unit, and all her vitals were being monitored constantly and reported back.

  Syra glanced at her reflection and saw a few strands of her short black hair now out of place and quickly made the correction. Her eyes were as dark in color as her hair and not much distinguished her from all other Zhians but her high rank.

  She had a quick nutritional charge which should last her until the meeting is over, she thought to herself.

  It was time to make a quick system’s check before leaving her private living quarters. This would assure Syra everything was in order should she ever need to undock her private quarters in an emergency. She quickly boarded her pod and headed to the council meeting.

  Planet wide, the sirens sounded across all four zones. Time and time again, relentlessly for what seemed like eons.

  The shaking continued for many full moon cycles so often it had almost felt as though it were constant.

  Syra feared that most of the tower citizens had grown accustomed to it, and so they would no longer fear the shakes.

  Living high in the sky in their tower homes which never touched the surface kept them safe and most of the time unaware, as all citizens tried to pretend everything was all right.

  Syra would always remind everyone to be aware that at any moment, they may need to undock their living quarters and escape the planet Zhian’s eventual doom.

  On the other hand, the worker bots who performed their duties on the surface of Zhian knew of the dangers when the thunderous sounds reached their highest pitch.

  The sounds would have been deafening to the Zhianites they served, had they been exposed to it. This had continued one full pass after another. No worker bot could remember a time this environment did not exist.

  Living in the towers above ground one would not feel the changes the planet was going through. It was easy for the Zhianites to go about their lives having the fear unnoticed by many.

  For the worker bots, the land beneath their feet shook violently and with each interval, it grew stronger and lasted longer. The rumblings were always present during every waking moment of the planet’s existence now.

  The worker bots were starting to report that the air had begun to fill up with gases that would make it difficult for Zhianites to breath and the Zhianites were warned not to visit the surface without being fully suited up in their second skins.

  As the worker bots were breaking down and no longer functioning, some began shutting themselves down as their duties were no longer required anyway.

  However, most of the worker bots continued as if nothing was ever wrong and they carried out their duties as ordered.

  Not a single worker bot ever questioned their duties. The maintenance and labor on the surface and underground were performed by the many types of bots and no Zhianite needed to visit the surface nor went below for anything.

  The inspections were now done by botcams and no others, they had been doing so for many moon cycles. However, too many worker bots were now being lost to the planet Zhian’s hostile environment.

  Advanced technology had replaced most of the Zhianites needs artificially, and they only needed the precious crystals from the core of their planet to power their systems.

 
; The precious crystals found on the planet Zhian were used to create everything the Zhianites needed one way or the other. Without the crystals, all would cease to exist in only a few passes.

  The highest ranking and most important was the bot Zee10. He was a specially-designed bot and oversaw all bots on the planet of Zhian. His design was that of a bot with Zhian emotions and he was the pride of Zerk and the council that ran the planet. His programming included many Zhian emotions that would surface over time.

  He had ordered his worker bots to work harder and longer each full moon cycle and to fill the quota of crystals the Zhianites would need upon their departure from the planet.

  All the while, he kept a special stash for his Syra and would make sure she had lots of extra supplies aboard her Zhian Sphere. She would need a full stock aboard her vessel before departure. Most importantly, it was a one-way trip!

  It was Zee10’s plan that before Syra exited the planet to give her his extra supplies before boarding himself, but he would be working around the clock to complete the duties assigned him.

  He had hoarded the top-quality gems and crystals for many passes, and he would see to it that Syra and her specially designed vessel was ready for her journey with a better chance to survive than most any other Zhian alive.

  Zee10 counted his inventory once again. He knew without calculating exactly how many of each Syra would need. With life on Zhian nearly reaching extinction, Syra would receive an abundant supply.

  Blue crystals used for an infinite power source in transportation.

  Rare blue crystals thought to be nonexistent because that resource had been used up but was the ultimate power source.

  Red crystals used for the weapons power source.

  Opaque crystals used for shrouding and other uses reserved.

  Green crystals used for powering everything else.

  Syra had arrived and stood before the Council and had taken her expected seat reserved for her. There was a moment of silence in the entire chamber when no one could be heard breathing much less whisper or move in their seats. It was a packed meeting of almost every citizen they could seat and the full council.

  Zerk, the leader of Council, motioned the official gathering to order and all stood in attendance. All the faces of every citizen in that chamber showed fear for the first time. This was a briefing none wanted to attend. But time was of the essence based on the urgency set forth by Council.

  This would be a briefing with no questions nor answers given, but orders. There would be no more discussions. No disagreements on the best way to proceed. No more research into ways to save Zhian or its citizens. It could not be done, and that conclusion was reached several passes ago.

  Zerk announced that all resources had been nearly depleted. With no rare blue crystals in existence, there would soon be no way of powering the cities to sustain life as the inhabitants of Zhian had grown accustomed to.

  Once the rare blue crystals were considered nonexistent and the resources of it exhausted, this left Zhianites with no other choice but to leave the planet. All individual living quarters docked in all towers would soon need to be vacated. All mining would soon stop.

  He had ordered everyone to vacate the planet and to do so in an orderly fashion. With the Zhian divided into four parts, the council, and its zone four would flee last. Each section would head to the nearest planet that could support life and that had been predetermined and assigned to them.

  Syra was asked to stay until everyone had left the briefing and all seats were empty. She was required to attend a special briefing afterward and as she had always done, was prompt and on time.

  Zerk, the entire Council, and Syra met privately. Syra received the orders she expected and would honor and carry them out as it was her duty to do so. It was that moment that Syra realized nothing would ever be the same in just one full moon cycle.

  Zee10 had each worker bot report back to him of their progress on the last mining that would ever be done on the Zhian.

  The last of the mined material had been shipped to its respective towers to be divided up amongst all that docked there. Already the first zone had started vacating and the skies began to fill with transportation pods of many sizes and shapes. They would soon be docking with their assigned transport and on their way to their destination, Earth.

  Zone One’s towers were now standing tall without a single pod docked there, each looking porous and motionless. It was once filled with life from many Zhianites and they loved the beauty of the surface it once had.

  The Holocom Chamber was used often to see the beauty that zone one once displayed. The green crystal was plentifully there, and mining was good. It was not as well sought after but was a needed resource.

  Every single Zhianites knew many before them had once walked upon the zone’s plush land and that many types of life once flourished there.

  Once Zee10 had seen to it that Zone One had been vacated, all the worker bots shut down. All power sources had been removed from each of them and collected.

  The landscape was now filled with worker bots standing motionless, all lined up in ghostly rows of bots. Stripped of anything valuable, they would rust and eventually turn to dust.

  It was a few intervals later when Zone Two was next on Zee10’s schedule. This zone was always difficult, and he disliked it enormously. Why the Zhianites had to put that emotion in his programming was ridiculous he thought, but he tolerated it none-the-less.

  Zee10 was thought of as fearless, yet Zone Two was the one place he feared. That section of the planet was always unstable and very dangerous to be there let alone mine it.

  The red crystal may have been difficult to mine in Zone Two, but it was part of the security of the planet and was needed just as much.

  Although the risk to mine Zone Two was great, that job was carried out regardless. Zee10 had lost a lot of good worker bots from sudden explosions at random sites in this zone.

  But the red oozing that constantly reached the surface spouting out with such fierceness that objects simply disappeared from its heat made him cringe. This was yet another trait in him the Zhianites had embedded in his programming, to no liking of his.

  It was time so Zee10 ordered all worker bots to the workers tower at once where at least there would be no explosions, so Zee10 could at least remain safer as he performed his next difficult task!

  He directed each worker bot to stand at the jump ramp, remove his own personal power source and place it in the container next to the exit. With seconds to spare, each then stepped forward and fell into the red oozing pits down below. Each did this until there were none left and Zone Two was empty and now devoid of any activity other than the fury coming from its core.

  After several more intervals, Zee10 started the evacuation of all worker bots from Zone Three. This zone rarely had life of any sort, other than ones that could exist in its cold temperatures.

  The blue crystal was mined there and all that was worth taking had been.

  This area once had the rare blue crystal within its boundaries which was the rarest of them all. It too was the most difficult to mine and was also greatly sought after until that resource was exhausted.

  The blue and rare blue crystals were critical to Zhian inhabitants because their power sources kept all transportation moving.

  For Zee10, keeping his worker bots working and not shutting down constantly was difficult, but the rewards for the Zhianites were great.

  The blue crystal was the one thing that kept everyone and everything mobile. Without that power source, the Zhianites would have died out many eons ago. This was the one thing he hated to see disappear and that made it a reality that time was of the essence, so he kept pushing to get this one job.

  Zee10 was finished with Zone Three and had salvaged all power sources and valuable parts from his worker bots and they would soon dispose of themselves accordingly.

  This was the only thing sad about his duties and he never let on to any of authority tha
t he felt a loving emotion for his worker bots and their tireless devotion to the planet.

  Zee10 often was grateful they had no emotions at all, and this was the one thing that made his job easier. He then left Zone Three behind him devoid of movement and beyond frigid cold as usual. In his monitors, he saw the bots self-destruct. He pretended it was nothing and continued with his duties.

  Zone Four was last and Zee10 looked forward to seeing Syra again.

  All worker and specialty bots started to report into Zee10 that were assigned a slot in Syra’s vessel.

  He was well pleased that the worker bots had delivered the last of the opaque crystals and that job was off his checklist.

  These crystals were used for all cloaking power systems and some technologies even Zee10 was not privy to. It was Zee10’s theory that they were a poor substitute for the already exhausted rare blue crystal. But it was not his place to question such things and so he did not.

  Zee10 looked up and already the skies of Zhian was starting to fill with pods of all sizes and shapes but he continued to work non-stop.

  The one thing he knew was that Syra would never leave without him, ever. Yet, he continued to watch the skies for her. His affections for her were simply not allowed, and he would not reveal them to anyone!

  There had been no Zhians on the surface of Zone Four in a dozen passes. It had just been too unsafe. The surface would crack, and in some cases swallow up whatever was in its path never to be seen again.

  Zone Four was much like Zone One, it was plush land and had much to offer the Zhianites in the past. With One and Four being adjacent to each other the inhabitants had the best of what the Zhian had to offer.

  As far as one could see, the worker bots now lined up along the newly formed cracks on the surface. No power sources were needed to be salvaged from them nor collected, and so each did its duty and leaped forward.