Sightless: The Survivors Series #2

by Jason Letts

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  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

  From the Author

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  SIGHTLESS

  THE SURVIVORS SERIES

  Jason Letts

  CHAPTER 1

  They were deep under the surface of the alien planet when a message came through telling them that was a terrible place to be.

  “Commander Roderick, we’ve received word that everyone needs to evacuate Detonus immediately!” called Chief Sonia Firth over the com.

  Loris was incredulous, though the eyes shifting toward him from the other team members squeezed into the bottom of the tunnel made him uneasy. Only a thin wall made of a compound they were completely unfamiliar with separated them from the last of their enemy’s secrets, and it’d taken them a week to dig here and find a solution to get through it. He wasn’t about to turn around and give up without a good reason.

  “Received word from whom? What could possibly compel us to walk away from discovering the origin of the probes?” Loris responded, while gesturing to his companions to keep going. Riki Lala spread a base mucus over the speckled surface that shone aquamarine in the light from Panic’s lamp. Lopez hunched forward with his hands on his knees in a vain attempt to appear to be helping.

  In the short time since transforming the atmosphere, they’d scoured the planet for clues about the Detonan’s mind-boggling capability to create new species and earmark them for destruction, the signal for which came in the form of mysterious rune-covered probes launched from the bottom of this deep chasm. If they knew how the probes worked, they could better understand what methods of attack the exiled Detonans might employ against them.

  “The boy from the planet behind the sun. He’s awoken from his coma and says that an attack is imminent.”

  Loris’s blood ran cold. He’d waited so long for the powerfully intelligent, child-like alien to regain consciousness, but he thought the worst of the danger had passed when they’d figured out how to thwart their enemies without him. Apparently, the grotesque and slimy methane-breathers wouldn’t be warded off for long.

  Sighing, Panic seemed to know what he was going to say before he did.

  “You want us to ignore the dire warning and keep digging,” she said.

  “We’ve spent a week working to get here. I can’t throw that away,” Loris said.

  “I’ve spent thirty-two years living and I’d rather not throw that away!” Lopez shot back.

  Riki Lala, squatting alongside the wall with thick gloves on and a mask covering her mouth and nose, gave him a piercing look from her green eyes.

  “Empirically speaking, the Commander’s irrationality is the only reason any of us are still alive.”

  She turned back to the wall and continued to smear her thick solution over the surface. The material appeared to bond with the wall’s compound, or at least sink in. Panic leaned forward before a bright smile appeared on her face.

  “It’s starting to crack. Look!”

  The crack could’ve been mistaken for a stray hair at first, but it forked and spread in every direction until the web of withered rock had a diameter of more than a meter. That was more than enough for Loris to work with. He took a step forward and slammed the bottom of his boot straight against the weak point. The stone crumpled and fell away. One more kick and his foot broke through into empty space.

  “Since this material completely sealed that chamber for thousands of years at the least, I’m expecting to find a self-contained system powering the construction and launch of these probes. I’m particularly curious about the composition of the probes, which have properties relating to light and movement that I wouldn’t have imagined in my most outrageous dreams,” Lala said.

  “Once we find what we’re looking for, we get to the line and have it reel us back up to the Cortes,” Loris said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”

  Lopez helped him clear away more of the cracked composite until getting through required little more than ducking low. The darkness on the other side prevented them from seeing anything, but they began to notice some slight movement in the air and the feeling of pressure on their chests. It was like a deep, inaudible sound reverberated through them.

  Panic held the lamp high ahead of them in an attempt to illuminate the way forward, but even from less than a meter away it looked to Loris like a faint glimmer one might catch sight of from kilometers in the distance. Whatever was around and in the air absorbed light.

  “The scanner isn’t picking up any electrical impulses of any kind,” Lala said. “The Detonans don’t seem to have anything…”

  She stopped short when a yelp came from Panic, who stumbled against an unexpected ledge and would’ve fallen over into an abyss if not for quick hands from Loris and Lopez. She regained her footing and they all backed away from the sudden drop off. The pressure against their chests increased, making it uncomfortable to be there.

  Loris began to think that they’d have to abandon their mission when something began taking shape in the darkness before them. Over the edge and down below, a single white speck appeared, followed by more cropping up all over in a wavy, spinning circle. It reminded Loris of how the runes only appeared on the probes after staring into the blackness for a while.

  “What do you think it is?” Loris asked, dumbstruck.

  “This is where the probes came from,” Panic added. “There’s no doubt about it. We’ve tracked them from this point.”

  “But they didn’t originate here. They were created somewhere else…‌by someone else, and sent through this window. Then the Detonans read them,” Lala said.

  Loris struggled to figure it out, and feeling crunched for time and squeezed around the chest didn’t help.

  “I thought the Detonans had a whole system for determining the expiration date for the species they made,” he said.

  “Maybe that part of it wasn’t their doing,” Panic posited.

  The unanswered questions upended a lot of what they thought they knew about their enemies, who were believed to be the only truly organic life form with consciousness throughout the universe. It became clear that more information bringing them closer to the truth wouldn’t be found here or now.

  “Come on, we have everything we’re going to get out of this place, and I’d be much more comfortable talking it over on the Magellan.”

  They turned and ventured up the uneven, sloping terrain on their way to the break in the wall and the tunnel leading them back toward the Cortes. As the line lifted them back toward the fleet’s warship with the spidery arms, another message came through from the space station.

  “We’ve spotted the Detonan fleet on our radar,” said Firth. “They’re moving in fast and I don’t think we’re going to get out of this without a fight.”

  CHAPTER 2

  As the Cortes raced back to the Magellan, missiles streamed in the opposite direction. Loris had hoped for more time to explore Detonus and understand everything they had developed over eons, but now it looked like they were leaving for good. Many of the missiles were of alien origin, fired from the Magellan with the intent to destroy as much of their civilizations as possible.

  Loris now wished the brief flash of fire that burned up the methane in the atmosphere had been powerful enoug
h to do more than incinerate the residents, but he had to turn his attention to more pressing matters.

  “Is everyone aboard the Magellan?” Loris asked from the cockpit of the Cortes. The Magellan was already breaking orbit and starting to accelerate.

  “No,” Firth replied, making Loris throw his head back in frustration. “Trynton Quade and his technological research team are aboard the Incubator.”

  Loris leaned forward and peered as far to the left as the window would allow. Among some other orbiting structures was a massive ship, more like a floating city, that they’d commandeered soon after arrival. Because it housed incredible machinery related to the Detonans species creation endeavors, they’d taken to calling it the Incubator. The downside was that its size required the constant assistance of the Balboa to remain hospitable. Quade had been in there for as long as Loris had been burrowing underground.

  “Are you kidding me, Quade? Why haven’t you taken the Balboa back to the Magellan yet? You want to get left behind?”

  The moments of silence in which Quade didn’t respond were more irritating than anything, except his response.

  “I think we can manage to get the engines going here. We really can’t leave this behind. I just need a little more time…”

  Loris groaned audibly.

  “Time is the one thing we don’t have. They’re closing in fast and I don’t think they’d let that mammoth ship pass. Besides, we need you to manage the fleet of drones. They’re our last line of defense.”

  The only thing keeping Loris from chewing out Quade completely was his miraculous work with the enemy drones, which were now much more responsive despite their intermittent reboots. By now they could even seamlessly execute a series of commands in a fight.

  “I’ve got that covered. Don’t worry. They’re all positioned out front to bear the brunt of the Detonan advance. Wait a second…” he said, trailing off. A flurry of clacking followed that made Loris clench his fist.

  “What’s the problem?”

  “I’m detecting a competing signal. The Detonan fleet has found a way to get through to the drones in a limited way.”

  Quade’s words immediately made Loris brace for a nightmare scenario of losing control of the drones completely and seeing them turn to attack the Magellan.

  “How bad is it?” Loris asked, his voice quavering.

  “They’ve managed to disconnect the weapons system from the main operating program. These wolves have no fangs,” Quade said.

  “But they can still run, right?” Loris said, thinking fast. “Put them all on kamikaze missions immediately before we lose control further.”

  “Right,” Quade said. This time Loris paused, reluctant to add to the unpleasant news.

  “And Quade, it looks like you’re coming to Nova aboard the Incubator or not at all,” he said. The Balboa would be a sore loss, not to mention the manpower. “As for us, we’re going to have to dock on the run.”

  Lopez cracked his knuckles as the Cortes got closer to the Magellan and began its risky maneuver. The station was still traveling far slower than escape velocity, but it was still going fast enough for any mistake to mean the destruction of the Cortes and major damage to the Magellan’s docking bay. And it didn’t help that a major distraction sprung up.

  In the distance, the drone fleet collided with the incoming enemy vessels, pelting their massive warships with enough explosions to make them shimmer. The Detonans tried to pick off as many as they could, but they barely managed to make a dent in the sheet of flies raining down on them. As Loris expected, the chances of them doing any real damage was next to nothing.

  “This is your time to shine,” he said to Lopez, whose hands were a whir against the console, matching up the velocity and moving the docking port into position. Loris waited anxiously, not envious that someone else was eager to claim the mantle of master pilot. A moment later the ship had attached to the dock and they were rushing through the exit.

  “Did I see that your eyes were closed?” Loris asked, genuinely curious even though getting a straight answer out of Lopez wasn’t likely.

  “Only when I was sneezing,” he said.

  They raced through the docking bay and to a lift that brought them to the station’s bridge. The door barely slid open when the emergency lights began to flash an amber hue. A slight tremor traveled through the door to their fleet. Something had hit the Magellan.

  “Are the shields up?” Loris asked, striding onto the bridge and taking his position behind a console. Firth, Chief of Personnel Kelly Reid, Chief of Engineering Marta Aylward, and a few others were there hard at work.

  “They are, but I don’t know how long they’re going to be able to hold,” Firth said.

  “Look at them all,” Loris said before he could stop himself. The enemy carriers were releasing their fighters, thousands upon thousands of which were coming at them.

  “They’ve anticipated our direction and are heading us off. We won’t be able to fully accelerate before they’re on us,” Firth said.

  “Let’s just smash our way through,” Reid suggested, but Loris shook his head. Although he was no engineer or propulsion physicist, he knew the ins and outs of his mother’s engine.

  “Absolutely not. Once we reach escape velocity the shields lose their effectiveness. If anything were in front of us, it wouldn’t be a bug splattering against the windshield of a car. It’d be a bullet that could tear a hole through the entire station.”

  “What do you want us to do? Reaching light speed during a firefight isn’t something any vessel is designed for. Veering one way or the other isn’t going to make a difference,” Aylward said.

  Loris put his head down, grasping for anything that could help. Maybe he should’ve stayed in the Cortes to provide some cover for the station while they escaped without him. He kicked himself at the stupid idea, knowing that one warship could never protect the station long enough.

  “Here’s a crazy idea. What if we threw it in reverse?” Loris wondered.

  “Reverse? Can a space station even do that? This isn’t your dad’s truck,” Firth said, but Loris’s attention was fully on Aylward, who squinted and ran her hand through her short black hair.

  “It’s never been done, but it’s worth a try. We’ll have to invert the engine mechanics and prepare for a backup in the reactor’s converter. In theory it should work, allowing us to zip out of the solar system and then get back on course, but if there’s an overload, this station will never budge again.”

  It was a risk that they had to take, because fighting now was a death sentence. He gave her a firm nod and she began punching it into her console. Loris heightened the emergency system’s alert to red, communicating that everyone should brace themselves and take cover.

  “Here we go,” Aylward said.

  A moment later the sudden shift in speed made everyone lurch forward. Reid, who was incredibly skinny and hadn’t bothered to take hold of anything, slid right out of his seat and under the console, sending him sprawling toward the window at the front of the room.

  Before long, the station began moving in the opposite direction, giving them a spectacular view of the swarming ships now chasing them. Loris anxiously eyed the monitor tracking their acceleration. The enemy fighters seemed to inch closer and finally made it into range, spraying fire at the bow as fast as their guns would allow.

  Quade’s voice came through on the com.

  “Looks like we’re in business!”

  The enemy fighters completely ignored the Incubator, which now lurched into motion as huge jet engines ten stories tall took on a deep shade of crimson. Whether the Detonans didn’t want to damage their own vessel or weren’t tempted by only twenty humans on board, nobody could say, but Quade was about to make off with the biggest ship any person had ever piloted.

  “We’re getting hailed by the Detonans,” Firth said.

  Loris brought the feed up on the monitor even though he was loathe to cast his eyes on the ghastly sack
s of bones and drooping, oily skin again. The creature appearing before them shook with anger. Its saggy, greenish lips flapped, prompting the station’s InferRead system to translate.

  “Your escape is never!”

  A quick glance at the console next to him brought a smile to Loris’s face.

  “We just did.”

  The station’s increasing acceleration was enough for it to pull away from the enemy fighters, whose cannon fire was now dissipating in empty space without any impact. Behind the fighters was the rest of the Detonan fleet, probably a dozen hulking cruisers and carriers nearly as large as the Incubator that could’ve had in total hundreds of thousands of passengers.

  The day would come when he’d have the advantage, and when that time came he wouldn’t be running. He’d finish paying them back for what they did to Earth.

  “We’ve reached escape velocity,” Marta Aylward reported. “I’m setting a way point outside the system where we can change course for Nova.”

  “The Incubator is nearing light speed. It looks like the Detonan fleet would rather return to their planet than chase us for four months across the galaxy,” Firth said.

  Kelly Reid, who still appeared disheveled after his slide, chuckled openly.

  “I guess they’ve had a change of heart about following up on their threat for Nova after all.”

  “That is if the threat to Nova was even the Detonans to begin with,” Loris said.

  Although escaping Detonus certainly felt good, the discovery deep in the planet left him with an overpowering sense of foreboding, and there was only one being who might be able to quell it.

  Now that the journey back to Nova left them with plenty of time on their hands, Loris headed to the medical wing to follow up on the news that their alien guest from the planet behind the sun had woken up. Considering the boy was a big part of the reason Loris had believed the Detonans were responsible for the probes, which turned out not to be the case, he had some explaining to do.

  When the doors slid open and Loris stepped into the slightly fragrant atmosphere of the medical wing, he traveled a familiar course to the room where the boy had been throughout his coma. Brina was there as he expected, since she’d taken such an interest in his wellbeing and his insights into the creation of humanity.