On the Run (Verity Chronicles Book 3): A Cadicle Space Opera Adventure

by T. S. Valmond

  “You think he’s actually here to help?” Braedon asked.

  “Not in the least,” Karter said.

  Maybe it wasn’t him who has them trailing us, after all. Iza nodded her agreement.

  Karter shook his head pensively. “He’s after something else but helping these people is a more urgent concern than dealing with Douketis.”

  Iza looked at Karter in surprise; she hadn’t expected those words to come from him. “We should hurry. He might be helping out now, but he’s no doubt here because there’s something he can haul or steal off of this planet.”

  “They don’t have anything left. You’ve seen these people,” Braedon said with a wave of his hand.

  “Yes, but look around,” Karter said with an all-encompassing wave of his arm.

  Iza took in the lush greenery, pristine and untouched beyond the building ruins underneath. The beauty of the place was unmistakable. However, she already knew what he meant.

  “This place is untapped for its new natural resources,” Karter continued. “They’re looking for something other colonists would pay for, and we need to find and protect it before they do.”

  Of course, that’s what they were doing. If there was something here in the rock or the water that could be sold, they wanted to be the first to find it for whoever it was they really answered to. However, with the pressing needs of the planet’s people, it might delay them a little.

  She glanced down at Atano. “Are you staying here, this time?” she said. The white dog stared up at her expectantly, wagging his tail, but didn’t move. “Good choice.”

  “Karter, it might be better if you stay here with Atano and Cierra. But I’m warning you, if anything happens to my dog, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

  “You have my word.” Karter raised his hands in the air; they were covered in dirt, as was the rest of his fine clothing. His cream-colored shirt bore wet stains under his arms, and the green vest and matching pants had various smudges of dirt as if he’d been lying on the ground at some point. A sheen of sweat still shown around his brow. Perhaps he’d already done more to help than she’d given him credit for.

  “Oh, and Karter,” Iza said, “take a shower. You’re starting to smell.” She couldn’t hide her smile.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The lapping waves of clear blue water were divided from the edge of the new southern continent by a sharp and jagged line. It looked as though the water filled up a gaping hole of land.

  High above, the shuttle soared out toward the middle of the new ocean into the twilight.

  Iza didn’t have to see below the surface of the water to know there were no fish or any other signs of animal life. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Something was off about this planet, let alone the strange coincidence that she and Douketis had received the distress call but it had been shut off before the Enforcers could respond. Trix had reinitialized the signal over an hour ago.

  Where are the Enforcers? This was a planet on the outer fringe of the Taran Empire, yes, but they were still citizens in need of assistance. Where is their help when people needed it most?

  Braedon was like a little boy with a new toy as he looked over the underwater remotely operated vehicle Trix had constructed using parts salvaged in the University building. “I can’t believe you built this so fast, Trix! Granted, it’s not the prettiest thing, but—”

  Iza pinched the bridge of her nose. “Braedon, please spare us the rundown of its specs.”

  “I was just going to ask about the camera—”

  “We’ve reached the designated coordinates,” Trix said, thankfully cutting off his chatter. “However, there’s something wrong with the shuttle’s instruments.”

  “How so?” Braedon put down his device and moved back to the pilot’s seat. “We were having a few issues locking onto signatures earlier, but overall…” He stared at the read-out. “Oh no!”

  “What?” Iza said standing up and looking over his shoulder as if she could read the code herself.

  Braedon turned to stare at her. “Remember that alien virus we contracted back when we were carrying the sphere?”

  “The one that disabled my ship and almost broke Trix? Of course, I do!”

  “It’s back.”

  They both turned as one to look at the android.

  “Trix, how are you feeling?” Iza asked her.

  “I’m feeling fine. How are you?” She didn’t seem to pick up on their concern. Her eyes were focused on the shuttle’s instruments.

  “We need to hurry,” Iza said. “That virus only ever showed up in the presence of the sphere, which means there’s alien tech here. If that’s what’s causing these planetary changes, we can’t stay here long.”

  Trix stood up from the pilot’s chair, keeping her hands on the controls. “Braedon, please hold the craft in this position while I deploy the ROV.”

  “You’ve got it.” He took over the flight controls.

  Trix went to the back of the shuttle and opened the hatch.

  Braedon kept the shuttle level, but the waves below lapped about in different directions contrary to their subtle movements. Iza’s stomach did a nervous flip at the sight of the water below them, the black of it revealing nothing below the surface. She swallowed hard, focusing on the horizon instead of the drop.

  “How long do you think it will take to find something?” Iza asked.

  “Unknown, but I will work as quickly as possible.” Trix turned on the ROV and it whirred to life. She dropped the mechanical drone into the water.

  It sank below the waves as they watched on the holodisplay as Trix guided it remotely. Whatever had started this planetary change wasn’t visible from the surface. The ROV’s searchlight was bright, and Iza could see the reflection of it on the surface for a few seconds before it disappeared from their view and she had to look at the monitor again. As suspected, there was nothing in the water itself. No fish, no fauna, nothing alive.

  Until they got to the ocean floor.

  The first mangled face that flashed in front of the camera’s view startled all of them. The rest of the person’s crushed and ruined body drifted by. Then another. And another—barely recognizable as people under the crushing weight of the ocean at that depth.

  It didn’t take long for them to realize that the ocean had formed on top of one of the cities. All of its residents, dead.

  “How much farther to the signal’s source?” Iza asked, unsuccessfully trying to quell the queasiness in her stomach as the corpses bumped against the drone.

  “We’re almost on top of it,” Braedon replied, “but it’s hard to pick up anything, there are so many bodies and destruction. The debris is thick here at the bottom.”

  Iza bit her lip. She’d been looking at the monitor for all of a minute before she realized she couldn’t anymore. Then an idea came to her. The alien sphere had glowed brightly when it was activated as a gateway. Maybe the other tech did the same.

  “Turn off the camera’s light,” she said.

  “Navigation will be difficult without illumination,” Trix objected.

  “If you turn off the camera’s light, you’ll be able to see if there’s anything glowing down there.”

  Braedon perked up. “So, you’re working on the assumption that whatever is emitting the signal has some kind of radiance of its own. Interesting theory, though it’s highly unlikely that we’d be able to see it through all the destruction.”

  Trix nodded. “I will caution, there is an increased risk of damage to the ROV’s camera without clear visibility of its path.”

  “It’s worth the risk. If we’re right on top of it, like you said, we should be able to see something.”

  Trix cut the light. She then pivoted the ROV in a slow turn. Three-quarters of the way around, a blue glow filtered through several darkened objects.

  “There!” Iza pointed on the holodisplay to the faint light pulsing on the other side of a fallen structure. “Can you move us i
n closer?”

  “Yes, I will try,” Trix acknowledged.

  She alternated between the ROV’s light and the illumination to create a route to the signal’s source. Iza watched her maneuver the device through a collapsed building. A piece of debris fell just in front of the ROV.

  “Look out!” Iza warned.

  “Yes, I have it,” Trix said calmly. She deftly maneuvered the drone around the threat.

  Several more minutes and two more close calls and they were through the building. The light was brighter, though they couldn’t make out the source. But what it illuminated made Iza gasp.

  Here, buildings rended from their foundations were twisted into crumpled knots. Corpses and household items floated amidst the structural ruins. The amount of death and destruction concealed under the artificial ocean made her sick.

  Trix kept her focus on controlling the ROV until they could see the light’s source.

  Braedon’s eyes widened. “What is that?”

  An oval field of light was nestled between toppled stone columns, rippling slightly like a pond within the ocean. Positioned on a nearby column was an unmistakable form the size of Iza’s fist.

  “A sphere,” she murmured, and swallowed hard.

  Braedon paled. “There are more of them?”

  “Maybe? Or the TSS lost control of the one we handed over.”

  Trix moved the drone closer, and the small sphere turned like an eye looking back at them. Iza shuddered.

  Braedon stared at the light with wonder. “Does this mean that’s a…?”

  “A Gate,” Iza confirmed. She couldn’t shake the feeling of electricity that enveloped her, just as it had when Raquel had pushed her through the Gate on the Arvonen One. She’d wound up on the other side in a cool, dry cavern—alone, or so it seemed. Perhaps it had been a monitored location at one time, but she hadn’t dallied in the cavern before trying to get back. It was the return trip that had been the most trouble, when a force had grabbed onto her and tried to prevent her return. If Joe hadn’t been there to pull her through, she might not have made it.

  Iza tensed as the drone neared the event horizon to get a better look at the sphere’s etchings. “Careful! Don’t get too close.” The words were out a second too late.

  As soon as the small device was close enough to read the inscriptions, it was swept up into the ring of light. The camera feed cut out. Iza had no way of knowing if the drone would be disintegrated like the people Victor Arvonen had forced through, or if it would make it through to the other side. Either way, the drone was lost.

  “Guess, we’re not getting that back,” Iza muttered as the video feed from the drone went dead on the shuttle’s front display.

  The shuttle bucked and a gust of air rushed through the open hatch in the rear, which had been left open when they released the drone. Iza’s skin tingled, sensing a change in the atmosphere. She was quick to recover and scrambled toward the back of the craft to close the hatch with the manual lever.

  “The climate is under flux,” Trix reported. “Gale-force winds originating from this area are sweeping north, along with seismic activity affecting all continents.”

  “What?” Iza ran back to the front of the shuttle and strapped in. Red alerts were flashing across the console and holodisplay. “Get us out of here and back to the survivor’s compound!”

  “That is going to be difficult,” Trix warned. “The intensity of the winds are extreme enough to blow us off course. Navigation control will be compromised.”

  “We’ve gotta set down. These winds could tear the shuttle apart,” Braedon said.

  Iza didn’t like the look of the electrical storm around them. If the shuttle was struck, it might cripple them permanently. The risk wasn’t worth the trouble. They wouldn’t be able to help anyone if they needed to be rescued themselves.

  The hairs on her arms stood on end as one of her dreams from when she had the sphere came back to her. A storm cast a black shadow over everything. The sight outside now was so close to the dream that she gaped at the menacing clouds, everything else around her disappearing.

  “Iz!” Braedon’s frantic voice pulled her back from the memory. He was fighting to control the ship.

  She snapped back to the present. “Find a place set us down. Keep scanning for any transmissions. We need to warn the others.”

  “I believe it is too late for that. The planet has already started to transform again.”

  Trix and Braedon fought the storm all the way to the shore. They managed to set the shuttle down between two clumps of trees. A small rock formation to the east thankfully blocked some of the wind and debris, offering just enough protection to avoid being swept away in the gale.

  “We should maintain cover here until the changes to the planet’s surface subside,” Trix said.

  The shuttle shook as the ground heaved under them, and Iza’s worried gaze met Braedon’s.

  “Is there any chance we could be swallowed up whole here?” she asked.

  Trix was quick to answer. “Yes, there is a—”

  “No!” Braedon and Iza both yelled at the same time.

  The last thing either of them wanted to know was the actual percentage chance of their demise. Instead, they huddled together in the shuttle as it rocked back and forth while the wind whipped new tree branches, pebbles, and dirt against the hull and the ground shook from distant quakes.

  After fifteen minutes, the shaking stopped.

  Iza let out a long breath. “Wow, that was—”

  Without warning, the shuttle powered down, all displays going dark. At the same moment, Trix jerked and then froze.

  “Trix, are you okay?” Braedon asked.

  “Trix?” Iza gently shook her shoulder. The android’s head was tilted at an odd angle and her hands were down at her sides. Iza turned to Braedon, hoping for an explanation. “Were we hit with something like an EMP?”

  “No clue.” Braedon tapped on the controls but they were unresponsive. “I can’t—”

  The main console sprang to life again, flashing with scrolling code and alien characters.

  Braedon swore. “It’s the virus! Looks like it’s progressing through the ship’s systems.”

  Trix’s head suddenly lifted. Her eyes were blank as she spoke. “You have broken the treaty. The Gatekeepers have returned.” The creepy monotone accentuated by the lower octave.

  Iza and Braedon looked from each other back to Trix.

  Iza reached for Trix. “Who are you?”

  “We are the Gatekeepers. This vessel is serving our purpose. Your actions are an act of war, and your kind will be wiped out now, the way they should have been before.”

  Iza didn’t have a chance to back away before Trix’s hand gripped her neck. Trix stood up, lifting Iza into the air until her head was pressed to the roof of the shuttle. Iza could feel her airway being cut off as she kicked and struggled to get free. Every move she made only tightened Trix’s grip on her. The tightness of her larynx brought tears to her eyes. Soon, her vision blurred and a cloud of black closed in from her peripheral vision until all she could see was Trix’s determined face.

  Then, she was dreaming again, like before when the sphere had been on the ship with her those months ago. The colors in her dream were so vivid that she struggled to take them all in. The breeze on her skin lifted the hair at her neck. Chilled, she went to rub her arms but then two arms embraced her, cradling her and providing warmth. The solid frame behind her was Joe; she’d know him anywhere. The scent of his soap made her smile as he kissed the spot in her hair closest to his mouth.

  “You can’t do this alone,” she heard him say with a sigh, picking up like they’d been deep in discussion.

  “I don’t have a choice,” she replied—an automatic response, even in her dreams.

  Joe turned her to face him, still keeping his arms wrapped around hers. He rested his forehead on hers. “Yes, you do. I’ll always stand with you. Promise me you won’t do this without me.�
��

  Iza turned her face up to him. His blue eyes bored into hers with all the hope and promise he’d shown the day he’d been taken away.

  “Besides look what will happen if you don’t.” Joe pulled away, his hands sliding down her arms to take hold of her hands.

  For the first time, she saw they weren’t just standing on the top of some random mountain. Under them were bodies. Dead bodies with blank stares for as far as she could see. She made out Braedon and Cierra before she caught a glimpse of Trix lying dismembered only a meter from where they stood.

  “Promise me,” Joe said, his insistence pulling her attention back to him.

  Iza tried to swallow the bile in her throat before she whispered the words. “I promise.”

  Pain shot up the back of her neck and Joe’s hands let go of hers. She reached out for him while at the same time she groaned as the movement made the pain worse.

  When her eyes opened, there were still stars swimming in her vision. Braedon sat at her side holding the plastic oxygen mask over her face. She breathed in the air deeply, but her neck was so sore and her body so weak she couldn’t lift an arm to hold the mask herself. He was whispering something soothing.

  “Iz, are you okay? Can you hear me?” Braedon tilted her head toward his and his light brown eyes stared back into hers with concern.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” she croaked.

  He hugged her and his body relaxed against her with relief. Then he let out a laugh. “I thought she was going to kill you.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know, but when her voice changed, I knew it had to be the virus. I ran the debugging program while she was talking. It took a minute to reach her system. I’m sorry.”

  Iza tapped his arm weakly to signal she was ready to try and sit up.

  “Take it slow, you hit the ground before I could reach you. You banged your head pretty hard.”

  Iza managed to get on all fours and hold back the nausea that swept over her, though it made her sweat. When the room stopped spinning, she got her feet under her and Braedon helped her to the bench seat. Trix stood in the middle of the floor with her hands now down at her sides and her head tilted to one side. Her eyes were blank and her body lifeless.