Project Atlantis (Ascendant Chronicles Book 1)

by Brandon Ellis

  Gold flecks stirred in a clear liquid. He repeated the same questions he had just moments before. Did the guy accidentally drop this? Did he leave it on purpose, thinking Rivkah and I would drink it and die shortly after?

  He checked in again with his newest friend, intuition. Apparently, he had the go-ahead. He dipped his finger inside. He leaned his head back and opened his mouth and held his finger over his tongue. He felt the liquid stream down his index finger until it came to a head at his fingertip. A drop touched his tongue.

  It was water. He expected the flecks to taste, but they didn’t.

  He blinked several times, waiting for the effects to take hold. If it was poison, then a little amount probably wouldn’t kill him. He’d simply vomit it up.

  He straightened his shoulders, then his spine, feeling a rise of energy. He took a deep breath, or rather, his body breathed more life into him without him consciously doing so. He yawned, taking in more air.

  Holy shit. I feel amazing.

  He wanted to run, just for the sake of running. He wanted to move around, do push-ups, sit-ups, he didn’t care as long as he was exercising.

  He stretched, taking in another breath.

  “Rivkah, you gotta – ”

  She was slumped to the side, eyes closed. Barely breathing.

  He sprang to her, flask in hand, dropping to his knees and feeling for her pulse. She was alive, though her pulse was even more faint. He was losing her.

  He opened her mouth, pouring in a small amount of this liquid. It dribbled out, the water merely dampening her lips and skin.

  He lightly slapped her cheeks to wake her up. “Stay with me, Rivkah. Stay with me.”

  She took in a big breath and held it for a few seconds.

  Then she exhaled.

  He felt her pulse a second time. It was almost undetectable. He filled a cap-full of the water and gave her more.

  Her pulse was even lighter.

  “Dammit. Don’t leave me, Rivkah.”

  He gave her another swig and checked her pulse yet again.

  Nothing changed.

  He slumped, sitting hard on his butt.

  I’m killing her.

  This had to be poison and if it wasn’t, then he had overdosed her.

  “Ne, Mishusta.”

  Jaxx let out a sharp breath, dropping the flask on the ground, the contents spilling out until there was nothing left. He grabbed for his IPG and pointed it at a man hanging from the outcropping by his feet. The man flipped to the ground and bowed.

  Jaxx kept the IPG steady on the man’s forehead. “What do you want?”

  The man pointed to his chest. “Kiyo-zan.”

  Kiyo-zan? Is that his name? Jaxx had taken Japanese in high school. It sounded Japanese-ish. Perhaps he had an accent? Perhaps his people have migrated from Kyushu, the southern-most island of Japan. Their accents were thick as molasses; wonderful to listen to, but hard to comprehend. It was so long ago that even if this guy was speaking Tokyo-style Japanese, which Jaxx highly doubted, he still couldn’t figure out what the man was trying to say.

  He trained the IPG on the man more intensely. “Please leave.”

  The man slowly lowered into a crouch, then reached for something inside his cape.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  The man paused, then nodded. “Anashita no tame ni.”

  The man put his hand out, gesturing to Jaxx that everything was fine. He slowly slid his hand out from inside his cape and put another flask on the ground. It stood upright and a neck popped out, exposing a cap over the flask’s mouth.

  The man jabbed a finger at his chest. “Kiyo-zan.” He spread his arms out wide, motioning outward and at the entire forest. “Taiyo-zan.”

  The guy saw from Jaxx’s expression that Jaxx understood what he meant and tapped his chest. “Kiyo-zan.”

  Jaxx shifted in his seated position. The guy’s name was obviously Kiyo-zan and they called the planet, Taiyo-zan.

  He was going to point at his own chest and say his name but glanced down at Rivkah instead. Her lips were now a blueish pink. She was trembling.

  Another flask landed near Jaxx, startling him. He lifted his gaze. Kiyo-zan imitated drinking the flask by holding an imaginary flask in his hand, while also simultaneously pointing at Rivkah with his other hand. “Shite kudazen.”

  Jaxx snagged the bottle and untwisted the cap. He poured the water into Rivkah’s mouth, then let up.

  Kiyo-zan shook his head, imitating drinking the flask but leaning his head all the way back more as if finishing the entire drink.

  Even though Rivkah wasn’t swallowing, she was by chance getting some down her gullet and into her stomach. Maybe that’s what Kiyo-zan was getting at – the more, the better.

  Here goes. This guy better not be trying to kill her.

  Jaxx emptied the flask into Rivkah’s mouth, the water dribbling down her chin and cheeks, drenching her jumpsuit collar.

  Rivkah smacked her lips. Her eyelids twitched. Her skin tone morphed from “scary grey” to “healthy brown,” her lips turned pink. He checked her leg but no change. It still dribbled blood. He touched her neck, feeling for her pulse. Better, stronger.

  Kiyo-zan made a clicking sound and his fellow Taiyonians came from behind the trees. They all had on the same outfit as Kiyo-zan, though a bow and arrow weapon was strapped to each of their backs, glowing a hazy orange.

  One woman held out a bowl and gestured to it, then placed her hand in it, pulling out a yellow cube. She put it in her mouth and chewed, rubbing her tummy. She smiled and placed the bowl in front of Kiyo-zan. She pressed it forward an inch.

  Jaxx shook his head, speaking loudly as if the Taiyonians were deaf. “Do you have anything for her wound?” He motioned to Rivkah’s leg. He didn’t know why they were helping him, especially after his small starfighter squad just took out half their city, no doubt killing countless Taiyonians. Regardless of whether they were friendly or not, he held his IPG in front of him, making sure they could see it. Who knew, the Taiyonians might be massing in the hundreds, on the ridge and outcropping above him, waiting for him to come out so they could seize their moment of glory.

  After all, he had been part of an invading force. This was their land, not his.

  A flash of light split the sky, followed by a boom. Everyone looked up, including Jaxx. Through the small breaks in the forest canopy, he saw a craft descending, smoke trailing from it. It was coming in hot. His belt started vibrating, telling him the rescue team was on their way.

  That was fast.

  He touched his belt, turning off the vibration revealer, and looked out across the forest. The Taiyonians were gone.

  The ground shook. Jaxx held onto Rivkah, keeping her stable and secure. The sound of cracking branches riddled the forest and an intense rumbling echoed against the ridge.

  Then silence.

  An Oospor Class-9 Dropship was hovering ten meters away, broken branches littered the ground around it, the sun’s rays highlighting the ship through the newly created hole in the forest canopy.

  There was the standard pffftcha of a ramp unlocking from the airtight craft, then steam curling around the opening. A large man in an armor suit stepped through, his boots clanging on the ramp at each step.

  “I’m Special Agent Nick Cole. Do you need my assistance?” His voice was loud and digitized through the helmets external speakers.

  Jaxx shook his head. He had Rivkah in his arms, holding her like a husband carrying his bride.

  A crack came from behind the craft. It could have been a shot, but it could have been the octo-hippo, looking for lunch. Cole took no chances. In one leap, he was on top of his craft. He balanced like a tightrope walker on a tension wire and reached for his rifle, the IPR-9, magnetized to the back of his titanium suit.

  He aimed his IPR and riddled the forest with photon fire, each shot followed by a tracer. Trees snapped in half and brush caught fire until he created a circular inferno around his
ship. The perfect, unassailable perimeter. No one could get in or out that ring of fire.

  Jaxx stepped onto to the ramp, desperate to get Rivkah on-board, where she could get the medical attention she needed. The craft looked wider on the inside than the outside. A hospital bed was in one corner and to his surprise, a pilot and a doctor were rushing to him, helping him rest Rivkah on the bed.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood,” Jaxx said.

  The doctor waived a medical wand over her. It lit up. Diagnosis and instructions shot out from its holographic display.

  The doctor knelt next to her, feeling her pulse. “The Med Stave suggests a foreign material is keeping her alive. I don’t understand the material type, other than it’s a mixture of a highly heated golden ash and concentrated spring water, abundant in mineral content. Some minerals I’ve never heard of. Sagitium? It also says she has less than an hour to live.”

  Cole ran into the craft, the door hissing shut behind him.

  “She’s lost 1781 milliliters of blood. We have to cauterize the wound and get more blood into her, STAT.”

  Cole sat next to the pilot. “Not before we exit the exosphere. Strap in.”

  “We don’t have time,” Jaxx yelled. “Help her now.”

  They placed restraints around Rivkah’s wrists and ankles.

  The pilot went back to his chair, pressing buttons on the control panel. “We’ll be up in a few seconds. We can help her then.”

  Rivkah moaned. “I’m...thirsty. Water.”

  Jaxx stroked her forehead. “Soon. Very soon.”

  “Get in your seat, Lieutenant Jaxx. We’re getting this ship off the ground.” Cole thumbed at a seat behind him.

  “I’ll be right back, Rivkah.” Jaxx raced to his chair and plopped down, buckling in.

  The pilot pushed his visor down. “Anti-grav unit activated. Heading to the stars, fellas.”

  Out of the view screen, Jaxx saw the trees rush by in less than a second. They were soon past the clouds, through the exosphere and into space.

  And out in space, debris was everywhere. Starfighter debris.

  Jaxx didn’t know if the terrible mess was mostly from the squadrons he splintered off from for his attack run on the Taiyonian city or if the thousands of bulky and singed pieces were from Taiyonian starfighters. From the expert way the Taiyonian’s flew, he guessed most of the debris belonged to his squad-mates.

  Right now, though, space was at rest. Vacant. No fighting, at least not in this ship’s proximity.

  “We have a problem,” said the doctor, rummaging through a silver supply box. “No blood. The med team didn’t replenish after our last search and rescue. It’s been mad up here.” He moved things around in the box, still searching. Unsuccessful, he threw his hands up.

  “We have Jaxx,” Cole mentioned. “I’m signing him up.”

  Jaxx unstrapped and stood. “I’ll volunteer. You need my blood?”

  The doctor beckoned him over. “Yes. Let me hook you up.”

  43

  June 9th, 2018

  Charlotte, North Carolina

  Drew had on a hoodie and a Parka, with a full, face-covering faux-fur hood. He didn’t pull the hood up, though, because that would have drawn attention to him. Instead, buried his face as deep as he could and hoped that the bulk of the hoodie made him look tubby.

  His mother was right. Her compound was crawling with Secret Service types. Did those guys not know how to blend in? Not just the suits and the shiny shoes, but the squiggly ear-pieces.

  Drew and Laura didn’t go through their usual “who are you? do you know my son?” routine. Instead, Drew introduced himself to the nice people at the front desk as a her third-cousin, twice removed, come to tell her that she’d come into some money. Money always threw people off the scent. It had the advantage of being both exciting and private. No one would interrupt them.

  They made their way to the far side of the garden, admiring the flowers, making mindless chit chat. Drew was careful not to say anything that his “muddled” mother might not understand and she, who perhaps had been doing this act for some time, didn’t let on she knew who she was or what she’d told him over the phone.

  Until they sat down.

  Then, everything changed.

  “You sent me your phone?” Laura was more Laura than she’d been for nearly 15 years.

  Drew had trouble keeping it together. “I did.”

  “Good lad. I taught you well. The pictures you took were outstanding, but it was what wasn’t in the pictures that interested me.”

  Drew gawped. There was nothing else he could do.

  “I can’t tell you what I did or when, because I’ve signed the Official Secrets Act, but I have skills.” She smiled.

  Drew’s heart broke a million times over. His mother had been inside the shuffling, confused woman, all these years.

  “I tracked this GSA organization and hacked their files.”

  Drew’s eyebrows took it to new heights, his mouth to all time lows.

  “Close your mouth, there’s a train coming.”

  He laughed. It was something she used to say when he was a kid.

  “They aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, these men you are investigating. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, they’re idiots.”

  Drew nodded. Couldn’t argue with that.

  “They kept a log.” Laura smiled. “Do you need to take notes or do you still have a photographic memory?”

  Drew tapped the side of his head. “Still got it.”

  “The log recorded messages between GSA and Underfoot Black. The messages were short and confusing. The log numbers were in order, but the numbers weren’t sequential. Someone has doctored the log.”

  Drew nodded. He was firing on all cylinders. His mother was brilliant. She was about to blow the whole thing open.

  Laura closed her eyes and recited the list.

  “Log 114: SSP doesn’t know anything yet. Keep it under wraps.

  Log 181: SSP probed TECS IV, then left. We feel they are unaware.

  Log 192: A few retired SSP agents work for us. Again, keep it under the radar.

  Log 213: SSP is privy to our exploration.

  Log 477: TECS IV has spotted an anomaly. Disregard. The anomaly is uninhabitable.

  Log 599: TECS IV found what our scientists are calling the Golden Egg.

  Log 611: SSP is investigating TECS IV and GSA. They have also found the Golden Egg.

  Log 665: SSP will not cooperate with us.

  Log 668: SSP’s recent communications say their scientists do not see global warming a deadly threat. Our scientists disagree.

  Log 704: Stay underground.

  Log 832: SSP knows we have Kaden Jaxx and demand him back.

  Log 914: SSP and TECS IV has gone dark. No communication with SSP and TECS IV is offline.

  Log 1043: SSP and GSA to cooperate.

  Log 1096: Avera investigating GSA. Eliminate.”

  Drew gasped. That was the kill order he was afraid of.

  “What did you think, when you went fishing in this pool? Of course they want you gone.” She closed her eyes and continued:

  “Log 1152: We move launch date up to June 12th,. Launch location: Sandy Island, Caribbean, just east of Grenada.

  Log 1163: Government evacuation procedures in place. Everyone is ready.”

  “I don’t...” Drew wanted his bong in the worst way possible. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “There’s more, but we don’t have time. No one here has seen me string more than five words together at one time in ten years. You have to leave and you have to stay safe.” Laura squeezed her son’s hand, got up and left without looking back.

  Drew didn’t need to open his palm. He knew what she had given him. It was a thumb drive. Laura Avera knew what a fucking thumb drive was? Hell really was going to freeze over. He pulled his coat up around his ears and smiled his way past eight G-men.

  44

  June 9th, 2018


  Underfoot Black, Grenada

  “In five seconds, you’ll be coming back to the present,” said Donny. “One, notice how comfortable and relaxed you are. Two, you’re becoming more aware of my voice. Three, you are about to wake up as if you were in a deep, healthy sleep. Four, your eyes are becoming lighter. Five, you’re here, now. Your eyes are opening.”

  Jaxx opened his eyes, blinking several times. He gazed at the ceiling, bringing himself from the Oospor Class-9 Dropship to the room. Donny had just pulled him out of a hypnotherapy session where he recalled the same memories he had in his private session, last night, also stopping when he volunteered to give Rivkah his blood. He needed more. He wanted the rest of his memories. He wanted every last drop of them.

  He turned to Donny. “Take me back under.”

  Donny glanced at his watch, then shook his head. “We’ve got what Slade wants.” He tilted his head to the side. “Why do you want to go back under?”

  Jaxx looked off, his voice steady and low-pitched. “I have to know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Why they say I defected.”

  Donny huffed, looking at his watch again. “Alright, close your eyes.”

  Jaxx closed his eyes.

  A gun went off outside the room, then another.

  Jaxx opened his eyes and sat, wondering if what he heard was inside the facility or the beginning of his trance.

  The door burst open, Rivkah pointed a rifle at Jaxx. She was back. The second time in so many days. You couldn’t keep her locked up if she was cemented into the walls – she’d still break out.

  Donny pushed back into his chair, hands up.

  She motioned with her rifle to the door. “Get up, Jaxx.”

  Jaxx walked to the door, hands raised, his mind racing. In a way, he was happy to see her again. He felt he knew her better, at least a little. That happiness was tempered somewhat by the rifle.

  Donny glanced over Rivkah’s shoulder.

  Rivkah caught the look and twisted on her heels. A guard pushed his way in, firing wildly. Rivkah and Jaxx instinctively ducked.