by Joe Crouch
Terranus: Origins
Book 1 of the ‘Terranus: Origins’ series.
By Joe Crouch
Text Copyright © 2016 Joe Crouch
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 1
There’s only so many beatings you can take before you have to start hitting back, clamouring for your very existence, using that last breath as your driving force and motivation to overcome adversity. The Terran race, MY race, is on the brink of collapse and a total, unrecoverable implosion of everything we know, all because we as a species needed more, wanted more, typical Human greed once again getting us into a corner where the only option, as we see it, is to swing our arms and pray we come out on top.
It all started with a single discovery and an impatient world…
“... And finally, I would like to welcome Mr Lawrence Harrison, lead engineer and scientist on the Harrison project and Co. founder of the Harrison & Smith Institute.” The crowd remained seated as a quiet anticipation filled the hall. Travelling from all over Terranus Prime, the Capital and home world of the ‘Terran Empire’, the audience had gathered to marvel at the new scientific breakthrough the Harrison & Smith Institute had developed. Rumours had been circulating the weeks prior regarding what it could be, the anticipation approached a fever pitch as the Institute rarely called for a press briefing unless something monumental was happening.
The auditorium they were gathered in was built specifically by the Institute for these occasions. Its purpose was to give a stage to the people behind the scenes to make announcements regarding recent technological and scientific advancements they had made; its opulence was only matched by its scale. A glass roof curved overhead allowing in a bright, natural light as the clouds appeared to skim across its surface. Every inch of space was lavished with beautiful original works of art as sculptures were sat on pedestals, placing them at eye height. This was all layered onto a sparkling marble interior wall that seemed to accentuate the details within the pieces of work.
A stifled applause came from the crowd as Lawrence Harrison stepped up to the central pedestal, its brown oak wood a rare sight on Earth. Shuffling off to the side was the announcer, who joined the crowd in giving an impatient applause. “Welcome everyone,” Mr Harrison beamed, “I’m so thankful for you all being here today on this marvellous occasion, not only for us at the Institute, but the Terran race as a whole. Today, life will change for us all, hopefully for the better,” he paused to scan the crowd. “The way we live our lives, we way we enjoy our lives, will be different for every man, women, and child in this room, on this planet and the off-world colonies,” looking around, he took a moment to take a breath and compose himself. “I could stand here for hours boring you with details, and there will be a briefing after for those interested in the more technical aspects, but I know your time is precious.” The crowd felt the announcement was imminent and in a collective movement the gathered throng of people moved to the edges of their seats, holding their breath. He stood up straight as he anticipated the crowd’s reaction. “This is a culmination of the last twenty-five years of work here at the Harrison & Smith Institute, blood, sweat and a few tears have been poured into this project. So, finally, it’s my pleasure to introduce you all…” Lawrence paused, letting the crowd suffer a moment longer “… To the HS Drive!” The red curtain that lined the rear of the stage fell to the ground, landing with a dull thud to reveal a slowly rotating pedestal, lights penetrated from underneath through its clear body to shine on the device that was placed atop. Sat there was an egg-shaped capsule, the grey of its outer shell didn’t help to build any form of excitement in the crowd. Panels that lined its exterior blinked and flashed various colours but gave no indication of what it was. The crowd got to their feet to give a cautious applause as they looked on in collective confusion, an air of uncertainty engulfed the audience as they each tried to get a better look. Before people began to feel too underwhelmed Mr Harrison stepped back to the microphone.
“This may not look like much, in fact, I’d go as far to say it looks atrocious,” he said nervously as a sombre laughter penetrated the crowd. “This drive is the future of space travel, current technology lets us travel between one-tenth and one-twentieth of the speed-of-light,” he looked around the audience attempting to gauge a reaction. “The HS Drive will allow the craft to travel past the speed of light, with zero time dilation.” A gasp came from the crowd, “And the best thing?” he smiled, “It’s already in operation.” With this the crowd was electric, people jumped and screamed as humanity’s ultimate goal had finally been reached, it was no longer a vague concept but an actual, working prototype. They were inconsolable with emotion, a chant with Lawrence’s name started from the back of the auditorium and the momentum built until it fully took over. Attempting to cut through the cheering and whistling of the crowd he spoke up proudly, “We’ve sent a scout probe out to a distant star to collect information for possible Terran travel and colonisation, but I’ll let general Hagen fill you in with the details.” People began to shush those next to them, waiting for what the general had to say. Lawrence shuffled off to the side, struggling to control his emotions as general Hagen stepped onto the stage with the stride of a man who had conquered the world, his old, grizzled and potted face wobbled with every step.
“This is a momentous day for the race as a whole and I am privileged to be involved,” the general's voice seemed to boom and reverberate off the dense marble clad walls. “The mission was to send a scout probe to the HS-157 system and analyse the second and third planets in orbit,” he paused, never losing composure. “These are planets we have previously identified as having a high probability of being within the so-called ‘Goldilocks Zone’,” the crowd were deafly silent, absorbing and digesting every ounce of information being disseminated by the general.
* * *
“Sean… Sean… SEAN!” Pvt. Barry ‘Baz’ Kane shouted, his voice reverberated around their metallic dorm walls as he grabbed Sean and tried to shake him awake, “Wake up you fool, we’re on shift in twenty minutes.”
Sean shuffled about under the covers before poking his head out, “Alright, alright, calm down you oaf, I’m up.” Looking up at Baz his eyes burned from the overhead lights that shone brightly, blinding him as he awoke. Sitting up on the edge of his bunk while rubbing his eyes, he looked around at the dark grey interior of the quarters he shared with his best friend and squad mate, Baz. Pushing himself out from the comfort of his own cradle and stumbling around still half asleep, his legs struggled to keep him standing as he braced against the bulkhead with one hand, using it to steady himself as he shuffled towards his neatly folded pile of clothes. Sighing, Baz turned to look at Sean, his young face giving him an unthreatening appearance.
“Are you serious right now? We’re going to be late…” Baz trailed off while fixing his deep,
black hair, waiting for a snappy reply.
“What’s new? We’re always late, I’m sure there aren’t any incursions breaking out down there, the sergeant can wait,” he replied, taking a quick glance in the mirror at his dishevelled appearance.
“The amount you make him wait he will have you cleaning the SF-4’s again,” Baz replied in a dejected tone, knowing his friend was almost impossible to get through to at this time in the morning. Sean grunted and continued to lay his clothes out on his bunk, trying to ignore his roommate's incessant complaining, he worries too much he thought. Pulling on his boots, he stood and checked himself in the mirror, noting the navy-blue uniform was looking as sharp as ever on his athletic build, grinning, he turned motioning for Baz to follow him out the room and make their way to work. “Why do they even have us stationed up here?” Baz queried, “It’s not like there have been any incursions or riots on the colonies for a long time now.”
Making their way down the dull, grey hallway, Sean ran his hand over the cold metal of the walls and bulkheads as his heavy boots rattled the grated flooring. The ship they were stationed on was orbiting Earth, the TEF Arrakis was a Terran Empire destroyer class vessel. Her appearance was like most Human vessels, structured, organised and not complicated in any way, the designers opted for a functional ship rather than trying to impress. Cheerfully, he bolted around a sharp corner, entering a room off to the side of the hallway, “Baz, we made it just in time,” he shouted. As Baz turned the corner he saw Sean stood in awe, staring out the observational window that was as large as the entire wall. What greeted them was a marvellous sight every time they saw it. They were in orbit over the dark side of the Earth, Terranus Prime its designation in the empire, seeing the signs of life streak out and snake around the surface, all eventually congregating into multiple large areas filled with the lights of life on the surface.
“It blows your mind every time, doesn’t it?” Sean commented, “I can’t wait to get back down there,” Baz placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder, knowing being off the surface affected him more than most.
“Not long now my friend, not long now.” Sean nodded, turned and walked out the door they entered through and continued towards the armoury, feeling more sombre now than he did when he first woke.
Arriving in the armoury, the duo looked at each other in surprise, apart from a few Planet Landers, it was relatively empty. They had trained to be stationed in orbit, joining up with the Lander programme early on. Planet Landers were first response Marines stationed in orbit, they would be the first ones to arrive planet side to quell the locals if a disturbance broke out. Shrugging, they turned towards their weapons locker, each pulling out different weapons. Sean pulled out a Mag-15, a jet-black pistol with a luminous green energy cell pulsating from the barrel. The Mag-15 was a ‘Plasma Caster’ grade weapon, it would ionise super-heated gases, condense them into a projectile and spit the round towards its target, it was effective and would chew through the lightest armour. Baz, on the other hand, preferred a more delicate touch, he pulled out what he called ‘Aero’, a high-energy laser rifle that was custom made for him by the weapon techs back on Earth. “I still can’t believe you gave your weapon a name,” he laughed while glancing over and shaking his head, “Just wait until the battery pack leaks and your hands are melted right off, you’ll have to learn to stuff that face of yours using your feet.”
“Shut up.” Baz fired back, “What’s your accuracy again? Oh, right, that was it, somehow below 25 percent.” Baz glanced around with a smirk plastered across his face, he could see Sean scowling, content with his victory he turned back to his weapon. The armoury they were stationed in was for their squad of twelve, so it became cramped when everyone was in there prepping for an upcoming assignment. Having to dance between equipment and armour others had dumped on the floor was a regular occurrence, no one seemed to care about the condition as there hadn’t been an emergency for close to seven years now. Sitting next to each other, they dismantled their weapons and checked the energy packs, ensuring their levels and containment were still stable. They perked up as they heard the unmistakable footsteps stomping down the hallway outside. Quickly, they tried to compact as much of the rubbish on the floor under the bench they were sitting at, hiding it from all but the most observant onlooker.
“Do you two idiots think I’m blind, stupid or both?” the sergeant screamed as he burst through the door with enough force to rattle the benches, his sheer body mass enough to tear the doors from their hinges. “Store all the equipment safely and report to the training deck, NOW.” As a result, everyone in the room rushed about, nearly falling over each other as they fumbled to grab their equipment and head out. “And you two,” he pointed to Baz and Sean, “I know you were late, grab a sponge and report to the hanger.”
Fifteen minutes passed, they both trudged down another bland, metallic hallway towards the hangar deck, avoiding foot traffic from the crew aboard the ship. “I fucking hate you, Sean,” Baz whispered. Sean couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend’s absolute abhorrence for the punishment, he wasn’t going to enjoy it himself, but at least it broke up the monotony of yet another training session. Approaching the hanger, they noticed people starting to rush towards the bridge, no alert had been called so he assumed it was a drill and carried on his way. Without warning, the overhead lights sputtered to a deep red, “I wonder what that could…” before Sean could finish his sentence, the hallway turned into a cacophony of action as they were thrown to one side, slamming hard into the wall beside them. Pulling himself up on the handrail he struggled to keep balance.
“What in God’s name was that?” Baz shouted. Spinning on his heels he turned to see Baz who was bleeding from a gash on his forehead, he watched on as blood trickled down his freshly shaven face and pooled on his lips.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” he let out, “Drive failure maybe?”
“Maybe,” Baz replied, “It felt stronger than that. Are we under attack from the colonies do you think?” At the thought of a new war, Sean couldn’t help but let his emotions flood through his body, he never had great control over them at the best of times, it explained his long disciplinary record, but this wasn’t anger, he was scared.
“Let's make our way to one of the observational windows,” Sean said, “At least maybe we can see if there is any debris from the ship out there.” Without hesitation, and both still having to hold onto the rails to prop themselves up, they made their way forwards, scared at what they might see, unsure even if they wanted to see. It didn’t take them long to arrive and keying open the door they both froze, unable to move at the sight that greeted them. “Erm…” he gasped, looking on in confusion, “I don’t think that's quite right, do you?”
* * *
“We’ve got a bit of a surprise for everyone today.” General Hagen motioned towards the screen that began to descend from the ceiling, the crowd remained seated, watching as the monitor swivelled into position over and behind the speakers. “We are actually expecting the first streams of data back from the probe within the next few minutes, and it will be displayed live, to everyone here and anyone watching from around the world.” Excited gasps filled the audience as everyone grabbed their devices to make notes. The screen flickered into life as large red standby filled the lower quarter, mission control took up the rest of the image. A lot had been risked on the undertaking, but there was a lot to gain, too. Finding a new system that seemed to be relatively close that had habitable planets would be a defining moment for the race’s expansion into the void that was the galaxy. A few long moments passed, the crowd waited anxiously for any sort of information to be displayed. Seeming to judge people's impatience, the screen flicked to a view of Earth from the shipyard that was in orbit, the camera panned around to show where the probe was destined to emerge from slip space.
“This is where the probe is meant to arrive back home,” he exclaimed, “As soon as it leaves ‘Slip Space’ it will begin
to stream data back to the screen for everyone.” After a few moments, and right on cue, a bright white flash filled the screen, “And here we are now. That flash is wasted energy from…” the general was cut off as the display went dark, a flashing ‘No Signal’ filling the display.
“Look! Up there!” A panicked scream came from the audience. In a single motion the collective head of the crowd shot up, looking towards the sky, screams filled the air at the scene they were witness to. Although small, the sight was unmistakeable, as an orange ball of flame expanded, silhouetted on the deep blue sky. In a blind state of panic, the audience threw themselves about, trying their hardest to escape the auditorium and return to the relative safety of their homes. Storming off stage, the general ran to a communications console, he punched in the address for the Admiral aboard the TEF Arrakis and waited for an audio reply.
“Genera,” the Admiral answered.
“What’s going on up there, Admiral? I saw what seemed to be an explosion from orbit, did the probe malfunction entering the system?” The general stayed silent as he had to wait for a reply.
“No Sir,” the Admiral declared, a tone of despair in his voice. “Multiple foreign contacts have entered the system and opened fire…”
Chapter 2
“What… The fuck… Are they?” Sean gasped, stunned at what he saw, “Is that what the probe we sent looked like? Not like we ever got to see it.” Stood in silence, they glared out the large window that looked outwards from the ship’s hull. They weren’t sure what they saw, but there was one thing they were sure of – It was not Human in origin. Motionless off their port side and in close proximity were seven objects, they didn’t look like anything they had ever seen or conjured up in their own minds. They were stubby, shorter than the Arrakis and had what could only be described as long tendrils that extruded out from joints on the hull. Their light brown surface was dull, but the intertwined patches of red provided some life to the monochromatic foreign structures.
