Scorched Earth: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #16)

by T. R. Harris

  He became distracted by a new report. The Elites had been located.

  Acus rushed into the room. “They are in sub-level thirty-one, room six. They were found locked in a room, apparently by Adam Cain.”

  “They had contact with the Human?”

  “Yes, my Lord. And Master Jolin was killed.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Still in the conference room, my Lord. Shall I have them brought here?”

  “No, I will go to them.”

  ********

  The Elites who were seated around the conference table rose when Synnoc entered the room. Most were already up and pacing the floor, frustrated at their inability to leave, blocked by the armed Guards at the door.

  Synnoc had acquired a flash weapon from a Guard before entering, and now had it hidden in the folds of his robe.

  “Elder Synnoc, we must all leave the building immediately!” Master Malens yelled as he rushed up to him. “There is a bomb!”

  All the Elites were now circling Synnoc.

  The Elder was surprised by comment. He had come to the room expecting the Elites to be embarrassed and humbled by their disgraceful act, yet they all appeared scared and panicky.

  “A bomb? Where?”

  “I am not sure, but the Human mentioned a nuclear device—two of them—within the building.”

  The Elites now moved toward the door of the conference room, feeling that with Synnoc there, they would be allowed to leave.

  “Stop!” Synnoc yelled. The Guards closed ranks with weapons held steady. The Elites stopped, yet many appeared willing to face wrath of the weapon than stay in the room.

  “You had a conversation with Adam Cain?”

  Malens turned back to him. “We must leave. There is no time.”

  Synnoc waved his hand. “There are threat detectors throughout the building. Radiation is one item of which we monitor. If Adam Cain had brought a nuclear device into the building, we would know of it. Master Malens, the Humans are very deft at lying. I feel this is the case.”

  “It is true!” cried several of the other Elites.

  “Although your passion is real, additional assertions about the existence of a bomb—or bombs—only meant Cain has persuaded more of you with his lies. If he planned on detonating such a device, why has he and the others fled into the catacombs where there is no escape? Such an explosion would surely consume them as well. And from the scene I witnessed below, they did not appear to be creatures resigned to their own destruction. They are attempting to survive.”

  Synnoc pulled the flash weapon and pointed it at Malens. The Vice-Elder stood aghast.

  “What are you doing, Synnoc?”

  “Rather than be distracted by stories of bombs and impending doom, I ask you to answer for the subterfuge you and the others are engaged in. I know you are plotting against me.”

  Malens’ expression went blank, resigned to his fate. Synnoc enjoyed the look of surrender he was witnessing.

  “That is true, Synnoc. We have been conspiring against you, and against your reckless and dangerous judgement. We know of the fate of Fleet Marshal Kradis, your friend.”

  “I will not stand for insubordination, either from him or from you. I am the Elder. I rule the Expansion.”

  Synnoc wasn’t prepared for the wide grin that stretched across Malen’s face. If he didn’t know better, he would have taken it as a death challenge.

  “Yes, you are the Elder…but for how much longer, that is the question.”

  Chapter 40

  The dual explosions were heard and felt by everyone in the room. The building vibrated strongly for several seconds, but then this subsided. There were sounds of crashing debris, bursting pipes and panicked Juireans coming from around them, but that was all.

  After the rumbling calmed, Synnoc looked at Malen’s shocked face.

  “So, was that the catastrophic event you were so afraid of? There will be damage, I grant you that, but hardly the nuclear inferno you were expecting. I will also propose that we will find the bodies of Adam Cain and his cohorts in the damage below our feet—”

  The trembling vibrations returned, yet stronger this time, knocking Synnoc from his feet. All around was the sound of crashing and thunder from unknown origins. Then suddenly, all in the room became weightless, as the floor fell out below them. Walls cracked and the ceiling raced down to meet them….

  ********

  Comparatively, the explosions were small for nuclear devices. But what they did was blow away two sides of the wide footprint of the pyramid structure. As a general rule, pyramids cannot be toppled, so the building remained upright with very little outward signs of initial damage. However, as the sides fractured and fell into the huge center cavity of the building, the floors above the central viewing chamber—all thirty of them—began to crumble. With very little side support, the weight was too much for the weakened walls to bear. The center of the Malor-Hydon Tower, with it bronze-colored and reflective glass top, began to fall, sinking ever farther and faster into the middle of the structure. Falling debris filled the cavity below, and bellowed out with a huge cloud of dust and nuclear smoke. Then slowly, the skeletal sides, leaning at a radical angle, crumbled inward, crushing the still intact Pinnacle Room.

  It took three minutes before the building stopped rumbling. By then it was just a pile of contaminated rubble sitting atop the Kacoran Plain, and a tomb for all those caught inside.

  ********

  Lieutenant-Commander Tom Paulson was getting very adept at making tight dimensional jumps, and now he brought the Vengeance in as close as he dared to the planet Juir, using the abundance of navigational information available for the capital planet of the Expansion. He knew there were scores of enemy ships stationed nearby, but they were looking outward, expecting them to bolt in from out-system. So when the ship appeared one hundred eighteen miles above the surface of Juir City, it took time for the defense authority to react. By then Paulson hoped to be on the surface and under the radar.

  Travis was next to him in the co-pilot seat, with Pogo resting on a console not far away.

  “Okay, Pogo, can you locate Adam through his brain interface thingy?”

  Just then, the bridge of the Vengeance lit up from the light of an explosion on top of the mountain that Paulson knew was the Kacoran Plain, the seat of government for the Juireans and the Expansion. Moments later, high res images showed the Malor-Hydon Tower collapse in on itself.

  “Never mind. There he is,” Tom said with nonchalant detachment. “I’m going in.”

  Chapter 41

  Pogo did link with Adam’s mind and he led Paulson and Travis to a landing spot at the southwest side of the huge plateau mountain, within a grove of green trees with shiny silver leaves. The two men then hiked through the meadow and followed a meandering stream through a maze of fallen boulders to a clearing where a rusted metal grate covered a perfectly cylindrical hole cut out of solid rock.

  Moments later, Adam’s daughter Lila came into view. Travis and Tom knew her from their Sol-Kor universe days, as well as the couple of weeks on Worak-nin before she stole the trans-dimensional starship and disappeared.

  “Hey, Lila,” Travis said. “What are you doing here?” He had a crush of the Formilian mutant.

  “I came to help my mother and father. What kind of daughter would I be if I didn’t?”

  The men stood in awe as the five-foot tall alien took hold of the thirty-foot-round iron grate and pulled it from the rock face of the mountain without even a grunt.

  Travis was even more turned on than before.

  Soon afterwards, the rest of the team emerged from the tunnel. There was an emotional reunion, where Trimen was introduced to Tom and Travis…and Pogo, who had suddenly materialized.

  When Pogo appeared, Lila’s face lit up and her eyes sparkled. She extended her hand and the tiny green-tinted orb disappeared and then reappeared in her palm. She pulled him close to her heart and gasped.

  �
��Do you know what that is?” Adam asked Lila.

  “Oh yes! She is an energy conduit of ancient design and age. Isn’t she magnificent?”

  “She? She’s a he,” said Adam.

  “You are mistaken, father. I have a bond with her already. She is…is life.”

  Pogo?

  Adam, forgive me, but I have found my new master…a true master. Why did you not tell me of her before?

  I…I never thought about it.

  May I go with her? I can fulfil my purpose with this magnificent creature.

  Yeah, sure. She’s Lila, my daughter.

  I know. Even now we are…joined.

  As the team hiked back to the Vengeance, Adam had a sense of melancholy. He felt like he was losing a good friend or a loyal pet. He hadn’t been expecting this feeling.

  At the door to the starship, he suddenly remembered something.

  “I’ll be right back. Don’t leave without me.”

  He sprinted across the meadow and through a large grove of trees until he reached the transport that had brought him and Riyad to the mountain. The bound-up driver was none the worse for wear. Adam untied him. Then without a word of complaint, the red-skinned alien slipped into the driver’s seat and calmly drove away, all the while with that same emotionless expression on his face.

  ********

  With the Malor-Hydon Tower destroyed—and taking with it the Elder, the Elites, as well as seventy-five percent of the general Council—new leaders were quickly selected for the Juireans and tasked with saving the race from the invading Union starships headed their way.

  Their ships were ordered to stand-down, while these new leaders made frantic calls to the Humans, demanding—requesting—that they not attack any of the worlds in the Alliance Cluster. Negotiations for peace were offered, which Admiral Curtis Logan—the ranking officer in the fleet—firmly rejected. There would be no negotiations. Either the Juireans accept unconditional surrender or the fleet would continue.

  Logan was playing a gambit, but it paid off. Less than ten minutes later the Juireans linked back, agreeing to any and all terms the Humans requested. For a moment, Logan thought of asking the compliant Juirean leader to paint his house. Although it did need painting, Logan thought that might be a little over the top.

  Logan contacted Admiral Hollingsworth a few minutes later and filled him in on what had transpired. When asked about Adam Cain, Admiral Logan responded: “He blew up the whole frigging pyramid, sir.”

  Hollingsworth’s response would go down in history as another classic addition to the legend of Adam Cain.

  He said simply: “Of course he did.”

  Epilogue

  By the time Adam and his team reached Formil in the Vengeance, the Juireans had already left the planet, and Trimen, Arieel and Lila were welcomed back as heroes. The Humans would remain for another two weeks, while preparations were made for the coronation ceremony appointing Lila Bol the next Speaker of the Formilian people.

  Two days after their arrival, Admiral Hollingsworth linked to Adam.

  “I hate to say it,” Hollingsworth began, “but I’m a little disappointed.”

  The statement caught Adam off guard. “Disappointed, sir, in what? We won the war, rescued the women and killed the bad guy. What’s there to be disappointed about?”

  “Just that you got to go out and have all the fun, while I had to stay here and suffer through another sweltering Arizona summer.”

  “Sir, Arizona doesn’t exist anymore. It’s called the American Sector now.”

  “Yeah, whatever. But seriously, Captain, the next time galactic empires go to war, how about leaving a little of the fighting for the rest of us?”

  “Sir, yessir. If you insist.”

  ********

  Adam’s chest swelled with pride as he watched his daughter climb the steps to the huge throne platform and turn to face the adoring crowd.

  He was in the main Temple on Formil, along with Sherri and Riyad, watching the coronation of Lila as the next Speaker of the Formilian People, the Giver of Life and Light.

  She was beautiful beyond belief and dressed in the most-elegant flowing gown of shimmering white he’d ever seen. An enormous and intricate headdress rose from her mass of silky black hair, displaying a cascade of shooting stars and lightning bolts signifying the life the gods bestowed on the Formilians through their glorious leader. Music played, singers sang, people cheered, and all the focus on Lila, the embodiment of their living goddess.

  Arieel and Trimen were there as well, also decked out to the nines, and standing close to each other with animated expressions. This was a great moment for the Formilians, the realization of a dream centuries old.

  For the past two thousand years, they worshipped their Speakers, believing them to be conduits to their gods. Even the Speakers themselves believed that. Yet through all the pomp and ceremony, all the miracles, all the illusion, it was still artificial and staged. What the Formilians were celebrating in the Temple that day was nothing less than a Speaker who could actually control the most-mysterious force in the universe—electricity—and do it without artificial means. Lila was a true demi-god, something unique, something beyond normal people.

  The Formilians knew this. The Humans knew it. And the Juireans knew it. Already Lila was making moves to assume authority over the Expansion, to lead it from Formil and not Juir. She felt that under her leadership, all the senseless wars would come to an end. After all who would dare confront a leader with verifiable super powers?

  Only someone—or thing—with even greater powers….

  The End

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  Novels by T.R. Harris

  The Human Chronicles Saga

  The Fringe Worlds

  Alien Assassin

  The War of Pawns

  The Tactics of Revenge

  The Legend of Earth

  Cain’s Crusaders

  The Apex Predator

  A Galaxy to Conquer

  The Masters of War

  Prelude to War

  The Unreachable Stars

  When Earth Reigned Supreme

  A Clash of Aliens

  Battlelines

  The Copernicus Deception

  Scorched Earth

  Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

  The Enclaves of Sylox

  The Drone Wars Series

  Day of the Drone

  In collaboration with George Wier…

  The Liberation Series

  Captains Malicious