by TJ Ryan
“You see it now?” Tara asked.
After a long moment, he answered. “I see it. I don’t believe it, but I see it. So what do we do now?”
“We send it back to Earth,” was her suggestion. Dropping the droid crawler she began working to close the compartment on the probe again. “We send it back and forget it was ever here.”
“Works for me,” he said. “I’ll get the Pod into position—”
An alarm sounded, followed by a pulsing red glow. “Attention,” Claire’s voice told them. “Incoming hostile alien force. Prepare to engage.”
She knew she had to get up to the command room.
Tara looked down at the probe, and its contents. There wasn’t time to do anything but seal it up again and hope the devise was stable enough to make the journey back to Earth.
The Academy had spent a lot of time going over these things. They had to. This thing was the reason why the Earth was broken. Designed by man, and designed to last. Even a thousand years later, they were still around.
A power cell for a fission warhead. The most destructive power in the universe.
Now she understood. The probe wasn’t after an environmental sample. Tier Sergeant Borden had lied to her. This was what the Academy had wanted all along. They’d sent the probe to grab the fission power cell.
Very slowly, very carefully, she moved to close the hatch on the probe again. The power cells were supposed to be stable until they were ignited but she wasn’t going to take a chance on something that was a thousand years old.
Only… What the hell was that? Tara reached into the probe toward something light that caught her eye, concealed within the dust just behind the device’s shadow. She picked it up and inspected it.
“What the bagging hell?” she whispered. It appeared to be a small seed of some kind, with just the faintest trace of a green sprout emerging from its surface. She stared at the small, living thing in disbelief, when…
The ship rolled violently. Something large hit the side of the pod, shaking the ship and its human cargo. Tara fell on her back and slid to the side of the room, hitting her head on the hard metal wall.
“Tara, get your ass up here. Now!”
“Right. Coming.” she shouted. Tara rubbed her head sorely and pocketed the strange green thing, and ran back to close the probe.
The hatch sealed tight again. Once that was done she stripped off her gloves and raced for the ladder in the central access corridor. She didn’t know which was worse. Knowing they were under attack, again, and could die…
Or knowing that they had just brought something on board that could decimate planet Earth. Again.
- End –
Get book 2 HERE.
Note from the author:
Thank you so much for taking the time to read The Dead Planet. If you liked what you read, please consider leaving a review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TJ Ryan is a Canadian author, born on the rainy West Coast (or is that Wet Coast?) of British Columbia. He spent his early years traveling the world, obsessing over new cultures and culinary experiences. Preferring spaceships to airplanes, he has now settled into his little slice of rainforest paradise, escaping reality through Science Fiction.
He’s still getting over the strange transition from Canadian to US spelling, but he’ll get there soon!
If you’re interested in getting advanced review copies of his books for free, you can join his MAILING LIST. You will also be the first to know when he publishes new works, and will have the opportunity read his books before they’re released to the public.
You can also visit his BLOG to keep up-to-date on his writing, and read sneak-peaks of his works in progress. He loves connecting with his readers, so don’t be shy to send him a message on FACEBOOK or TWITTER.
BOOKS BY TJ RYAN
The Broken Earth Saga
DESTROY THE PLANET
THE DEAD PLANET
THE CONTESTED PLANET
Other Books
DIVERGENCE (coming winter 2016)
