by R. E. Carr
The Download
The Download Files: Book One
R E Carr
Contents
Prologue
Overtures
Preparation
Exhilaration
Introductions
Assassin
Gladiator
Confrontation
Understanding (Partially Redacted)
Desecration
Illumination
Revelation
Parting
Convergence
Title Redacted
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by R E Carr
Copyright © 2017 R.E. Carr
Formerly Published by Kindle Press
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]
Created with Vellum
A long time ago, a young writer dreamed of a world across the stars, but didn’t know where to begin. Luckily, she met a selkie, a phoenix, a kitsune, and even a dragon along the way. This story belongs to those dreamers and the power of their belief…
[The Downloads project began officially on August 18, 2002, when Agents Diamante and Rubine were sent to execute damage control after a security leak in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Although the situation was believed to be contained, the subsequent transmissions betrayed the truth . . .]
—Excerpt from Supervising Agent Geoffrey Sapphyr, September 25, 2002
[As I stated in the official report, there is no evidence that these transmissions pose a real and immediate threat to the security of our nation and our planet. However, there is merit in repeated playback to determine if any of this technology can be used for defense, or to see if the test subjects can replicate the contact scenario . . .]
—Excerpt from Field Agent William Rubine, October 29, 2002
[My only concern is for the test subject . . .]
—Excerpt from Agent Trainee Sara Opal, May 15, 2004
Overtures
“No one mind the ginger in the corner,” Jenn MacDonald muttered as an elbow rammed into the back of her skull. She scooched her chair closer to the table, until her ribs pressed into the Formica and the tip of her braid dipped into the remains of her soup. She sighed as bits of plaster dandruff ruined the last few noodles. Her chair jostled again as a fresh pack of students shoved their way to the counter.
“None of this will matter tomorrow,” Jenn sighed. She flipped over the envelope marked “MacDonald: Final Check” in slanted chicken scratch and used her now-superfluous chopstick as a letter opener. Her face fell when she saw the paltry amount. She shuffled past the cable bill, the phone bill, and a past-due notice from Columbia House to the final gem in her pile—a shining white envelope emblazoned with the Boston University seal.
“We are writing to inform you that your application has been denied . . .”
Jenn set the letter on top of her bills and slumped into her seat. Her gaze slipped to the other pile she had retrieved from the mailbox: a box marked “Fragile,” an MIT alumni association letter, and a pile of designer-clothing catalogs. Not a single bill graced her roommate’s post that day.
The woman at the counter shot the stink eye to Jenn as more customers clamored for ramen. Jenn rolled her eyes and shoved both piles into her backpack. She cringed when the box made a clinking sound as it hit her Discman. She dumped the remnants of her meal and pouted at the sight of a buried piece of chicken now languishing in the trash.
Her stomach growled in protest as she shoved her dishes into the bin and battled her way out of the noodle shop. She then looped immediately into the vestibule of her Allston apartment building. She hadn’t made it two steps into the hall when the door to apartment 1A swung open and a stout lump of a woman stepped into Jenn’s path.
“You, 2B!” she snapped, hands on hips.
Jenn took a deep breath. “Mrs. Bukowski,” she said. “How are—?”
“You need to get your mail, and you have too many computers plugged in—it’s causing brownouts! I got a complaint from 2A that you were loud too.”
“I got the mail already, before dinner—”
Mrs. Bukowski kicked a box next to her door. Jenn squinted to read the name “Sara Jorgenson” on the label. The woman from 1A kicked it again.
“Hey!” Jenn snapped.
“It’s more computers, isn’t it?” Mrs. Bukowski barked. “If you knock out the power while I’m watching Days of Our Lives again, I raise the rent!”
Jenn bit her tongue and shifted her bag straps so that she could wrap her arms around the box. Just as she regained her balance and took a step toward the stairs, her landlady started a fresh barrage.
“Which one of you is in trouble?” Mrs. Bukowski asked.
“Excuse me?” Jenn asked over the box.
“There were some men in suits poking around the building. You know, men in black! Is your roommate a hacker? I don’t think you’d be smart enough—”
“I should get upstairs,” Jenn said. Jenn’s eyes started watering as she sniffed the smoke coming out of 1B mixed with the exhaust from the restaurant below.
“Don’t you be loud!”
“I’ll talk to Sara about the noise,” Jenn muttered. She just kept walking. Her boot caught on a chipped tile as she rounded the landing. She crashed into the wall, causing a terrible bang and letting out a yelp.
“I said don’t you be loud!” Mrs. Bukowski screamed from downstairs at a volume that could wake the dead.
Jenn fumbled and stumbled inside. The stereo in the living room played a classical piece while the television showed some sappy talk show.
“And she wonders why the utility bill is so high,” Jenn muttered as she dumped the box on their coffee table and sent her pile of want ads sprawling on the floor. As she picked them up, she took note of how very few she had circled.
“Is that you, Jenn?”
“Yeah,” Jenn said as she yanked out her roommate’s mail and dumped it on the box. The lights flickered the moment she pulled Sara’s other package out of her backpack. “Were you expecting more packages?” Jenn asked as she eyed the growing tower of open boxes next to the couch.
“No. Did I get one?” Sara asked.
Jenn rolled her eyes. She could hear faint voices coming from Sara’s room, mixed with an occasional buzz. She turned off the stereo and flipped the channel to the Sox game. The light flashed on the answering machine.
Sara poked her head around the corner and waved. Jenn raised a brow as she saw her roommate in nothing more than a bra, panties, and a pair of safety goggles over her spectacles.
“Um, you’re—”
“Sorry! Static electricity is the devil, so we—”
“We?” Jenn interrupted.
A second figure in underwear and safety glasses peeked from the hallway. Jenn cocked her head at the sculpted, tanned chest and shaggy blond hair. “Heyo!” the stranger said cheerfully.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jenn said awkwardly as she scooped up the box and schlepped it over to the sweaty, nearly naked couple.
“Well, you know, a raid array doesn’t assemble itself!” Sara said. Sara looked back and forth between her blushing roommate and her buff companion. “Will, why don’t you open up the new arrivals? Oh, where are my manners? Will, this is my roomie and bestest buddy, Jenn. Jenn, this is Will from my thesis group. He’s helping me screw tonight.”
“You poor thing,” Jenn sighed as she handed over the box to the beefcake. “I can just get a shower and clear out tonight if, um, you’
re gonna be busy.”
“Well, we’re gonna get pretty loud in a bit. I’ve finally overclocked the main processor,” Sara said. She continued to rattle off the specs to all the machines she planned on completing that night while Jenn ogled Will’s equally impressive backside. Jenn tuned back in as Sara plopped her hands on her hips. “Earth to MacDonald? Aren’t you excited?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jenn said a little too quickly.
“So when do you start back up?”
“Huh?”
“Weren’t you supposed to get your financial aid letters and stuff this week?” Sara asked. “The summer semester is starting anytime now, isn’t it?”
“Well, um, that would require me actually getting accepted,” Jenn said softly. “I guess there isn’t enough room for a solid C student in a major that won’t create lucrative future alumni.”
“Oh, puddin’,” Sara said, her eyes wobbling behind double lenses. Sara disregarded Jenn’s filthy work clothes and tackled her with a ferocious hug. “Well, they’re just stupid. You’re going to discover some lost city one day and make them rue the day they ever let you slip by.”
“I don’t think it works that way, but it’s appreciated,” Jenn sighed as she squeezed her friend. She winced as she saw a growing layer of plaster dust on the hardwood floors. “Yeah, and I got laid off today too.”
“I can totally send Will home and get us a couple forties,” Sara offered. “Unless you’ve got plans with Rick tonight?”
Jenn smacked her forehead and rushed over to the machine. “I was supposed to call—” she said as she hit Play.
“You have three new messages—”
“Sara, your MIT shenanigans are scaring the neighbors. That, or you’re attracting the attention of the FBI,” Jenn said as the first message turned out to be a hang-up.
“Oh?” Sara asked innocently. “It’s not my fault that the wiring in this building is woefully inadequate and our neighbors run their A/C when it’s only eighty outside . . .”
“Jenn, it’s Mom. I’m a little short this month. Do you think you can loan me a hundred till payday? Gimme a call, sweetie. BEEP.”
“Mrs. Bukowski said you were a little loud, that’s all . . .” Jenn trailed off as a husky, male voice echoed out of their tiny brown box.
“Jenny. Sorry I have to bail tonight, but something’s come up. You know. I don’t know how to say this, but I think it’s not going to work out, so, you know, let’s be friends and stuff—”
Jenn slumped onto the sofa, plaster dust and all. Sara shuffled awkwardly. Jenn gulped a few times and wiped her eyes. She let out a sad little laugh. “Well, why ruin a good day?” she asked as she blinked furiously.
“I’ll send Will home—”
Jenn shook her head furiously. “Nah. I’m gonna get a shower and then watch the Sox lose, so don’t—”
“Jenny . . .”
Jenn took a deep breath and waved away her clingy roomie. She pushed up to her feet and pulled her filthy T-shirt away from her sweaty chest.
“Seriously. I need stew time. It’s not like anything’s going to change, so why ruin your night too? OK?” Jenn sighed.
“Are you sure?” Sara asked. Her pigtails seemed to slump along with her shoulders.
“You just have to tell me one thing,” Jenn said.
“Anything!”
“So, is it really a terrible night for static electricity, or is it because your geek buddy looks like Patrick Swayze?” Jenn asked with a little wink.
“Bit of both,” Sara confessed. “I’m not as tall and thin as you, girlfriend. I need every opportunity I can get.”
“Well, fat lot of good it’s doing me,” Jenn sighed. “You know, one day, I’m gonna just try and figure out all the crazy shit you’re doing, because you have a free ride to MIT and Bodhi in your bedroom, and I’ve got something between Jack and shit to show for myself right now. Don’t give me that look—yeah that look, Sara. Just let me stew and shower. Yeah, really need that shower.”
Jenn dusted off the sofa and headed for the hallway. She could see her curvy little roommate bounding back into the thick of the disaster area also known as her room. Jenn picked up the pace as she heard giggles and boxes being ripped open with abandon.
She stripped off her clothes the second she shut the bathroom door. She wrenched the shower faucet all the way around, then stared in horror at her puffy eyes and the ghoulish layer of dust covering her from head to toe. Somehow dirt had wormed its way into every crevice on her body.
“You could have taken that office job, but nooooooooo,” she chided her reflection. She continued to analyze her new boo-boos and freckles until the steam misted over the mirror. The magic moment she finally slipped into the stream of water, however, the pipes shuddered and the lights flickered. Jenn yelped as she was suddenly left in wet, utter darkness. A second later, her gloriously steamy shower turned into a glacial stream.
“There is no one in this universe having a worse day than I am!” she cried.
“No, no, no, no!” Kei Zhanfos growled as he saw the angle of the sun through the trees. He struggled to tie his sandals with hands wrapped in bandages from fingertips to elbow. He gave up after the second failed attempt and left his gray feet bare as he scrambled out the window.
He landed on a branch, scowling as the bark cut into his heel. Kei crouched and steadied himself as the wind whipped through the tree line. From his vantage point in the Palace Tree, he could see the entire breadth of the Gracow Plateau. He surveyed Gracow City—the city hidden within hollow trunks and tucked under the branches of the Holy Forest. The wind changed. He sniffed as best he could under the fabric that covered his face, leaving only his flickering, alien-blue eyes visible.
Drums echoed far below. Kei growled again. He then scrambled on all fours along the length of the branch and would have leaped gracefully off the tip of it if the gauze on his hands hadn’t snagged on a bit of bark. He ended up sprawling into a tangle of branches. He crashed down through layers of greenery until he landed in an undignified lump in a puddle. One sniff of the liquid started him gagging.
“Catlike grace . . . ,” a passerby snorted.
He held his breath and scrambled to his feet. The drums grew louder as he encountered a crowd of Gracow citizens gathering around a shaman dressed all in brown.
“On the great day of First Sundering, when Man was torn from his sacred garden, those Holy Lands without the Blood Moon, the God of Creation offered himself as a sacrifice so that Man could live in another place: a place of pain, but of great hope. Man would have to prove that it could stand alone, that it could be holy and pure and free of corruption. Once the suffering of the Blood Moon had wiped clean the sins of Man, the God of Creation offered one final test to his people. He would give the last of his power, the holy Serif-fan; and she will join with a chosen warrior of Man, and together they will break the seals that bound God and usher in a new era for the one true tribe,” the shaman chanted.
Kei lowered his gaze as the crowd began to repeat the prayer. He tried his best to skirt around the faithful, but he ran into a pair of brutes with streaky brown-and-ginger hair.
“Well, what do we have here, brother?” the first of the Tiger’s Guard asked.
“It looks to me like the mongrel is in town today,” the other growled. “You are supposed to stay away, half breed. You will scare away the spirits on this holy night.”
Kei kept his face lowered and gritted his teeth. “Thank you so much for the concern, but if you have issue with my being here on the Summoning Night, take it up with my father,” he said in as low and even a voice he could muster.
“We will take it up with your brother, half breed,” the other brother snarled. He wrinkled his nose. “By the Lost God, you smell worse than usual!”
“Well, it is a special occasion,” Kei said before giving a bow. “Now, if you would excuse me . . .”
“He will be t
he death of the tribe,” one of the throng muttered. The Tiger’s Guard twins nodded in agreement. Kei merely bowed again and took his leave, but he did manage to wipe the filth off his chest with the twins’ cloaks as he shuffled away.
He slipped around market stalls and thickets, darting around the edges of the crowds with ease. He had just set eyes on the gnarled mass of roots that marked the Temple Tree complex when a voice cried, “Lord Kei!”
Kei froze. He sniffed the air and immediately rushed to straighten his bandages and tunic. As he was smoothing his hair, he heard a gasp.
“You really did it!” the young woman said when she saw his hacked-off, white hair fluttering around his cowl. “That means that tomorrow—”
“Winowa,” Kei whispered. “How do you—?”
“I always find you, Lord Kei,” she said as he finally faced her. She smiled under her wild pile of blonde curls, but her expression fell as soon as she saw the rope of white hair mixed with red beads around Kei’s neck. Kei lowered his gaze.
“I have to do something, Winowa,” he said softly.
“I know, my lord,” she said, nodding. “You are doing your best to appease your spirit guide. It’s my own weakness—”
Kei silenced her by taking her hand. She didn’t flinch at his black claws or the fur peeking between the layers of gauze. She did, however, glance up to the trees.
“Believe me, Winowa, you need not worry about tarnishing any reputation I have left,” he choked out.
“Maybe I was worried about mine,” she teased.
