Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  Glancing about from the readings he was taking from the side display screens Maddox noted Maia was watching his progress and raised his finger to his lips to denote his wish for her silence. As he continued, his hand discreetly retrieved his own laser pistol from the position he had abandoned it in earlier.

  ‘Not much more understood as yet as earliest observations from the early years of the twentieth century are about as much as we have to go on, aside from the rock strata being a composite of rich mineral ore. Energy signatures too, but I would assume they are from the facility we are heading for,’ he muttered as he turned about and slipped the pistol into the empty holster at his hip.

  Maia nervously glanced to the Sentinel, which maintained its position at the forward station as the ship descended to the surface, thrusters blasting against the rocky surface as the landing gear extended under the body of the Patrol cruiser to support her as she laid her weight upon them on contact with the surface.

  ‘We are pleased to welcome you to our colony,’ the voice announced almost with pleasure from the Sentinel itself. ‘For the ease of continued communication during your travels from the ship to our complex, we have elected to utilise the link to this Sentinel unit. Now if you would be so kind as to follow your new guide to the airlock and then into our complex, it will bring you to a holding area where we shall meet you in due course.’ There was a small pause before the voice added, ‘and please leave your weapons behind on the ship.’

  Maddox felt slightly infuriated after his discretion in retrieving the weapon he now had to simply cast it aside, but the Sentinel, which was retrieving it’s spike from the console receptacle and turning to face him would ensure his compliance before proceeding, of that he was certain. With a non-committal shrug, he slid the pistol slowly out of its holster and returned it to the console from which he had retrieved it moments earlier.

  At least for now he needed to gather as much intelligence as he could, then maybe later he would find something to replace the pistol he had just willingly given up. In a definite show of compliance towards the Sentinel he held his hands out to his sides in a gesture to show he had disarmed, raising his gaze slightly towards the Sentinel and addressed his as yet unseen hosts.

  ‘Okay then. I’ve put it aside and look forward to meeting you. Now what do we do?’

  ‘Follow the Sentinel,’ the voice instructed. ‘Do not deviate or try anything unexpected. It has orders to react unpleasantly should you stray from the path we have set out for you.’

  With a deep intake of breath followed by a snort, Maddox walked very slowly towards Maia in the centre of the bridge, her eyes fixed upon him with an incredulous stare that he had just disarmed so willingly leaving them both at the machine’s mercy.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he tried to reassure her. ‘Right now we follow and meet our hosts. You never know, it may be tea and crumpets around the campfire.’

  His accompanying smile did little to alleviate her level of concern as Maddox fell in line behind the Sentinel which purposefully marched past their position. Her gaze darted to the boots she could see poking out from behind the forward console, her mind pondering on just how Tam had died along with the rest of the crew on the ship and how irrelevant they had been to the grand scheme their new hosts had planned. They were just an inconvenience and in the way of the plan. She had to wonder how long it would be until both she and Maddox were deemed the same, their fate to match that of the owner of the boots she had once been so enamoured with.

  Turning from her thoughts, she reluctantly fell into step behind Maddox as they marched out from the bridge.

  ‘Approaching the co-ordinates where the Martian patrol ship has landed on the moon's surface,’ Ezri remarked out loud, despite the fact there was only her on the Erstwhile. It was just routine for her to remark upon the course of action being taken. ‘So far there has been no contact from below to challenge my approach.’

  Ezri had to concede that there was a possibility no one was looking out for pursuit vessels, then a change in her sensor readings caught her attention and prompted her to swiftly adjust their heading in a stomach lurching dive followed by a swoop back upwards away from the surface.

  ‘Automated systems,’ she announced quickly making a few more course changes as the blackness about them began to erupt in colourful bursts as explosions illuminated the flight deck through the view ports.

  Her concession only moments ago was irrelevant as it seemed they were simply waiting for the Erstwhile to fall within the range of the weaponry which was now assaulting her hull. The Erstwhile lurched unpredictably and heaved as Ezri compensated as best she could, the look of concern displayed on her face depicting the best approximation she could manage. Her fingers flashed across her control board at her inhuman speed, adjusting the polarisation of the plating across the hull to deflect the impacts that were buffeting the ship, but not before a directed energy blast made a definite impact upon the port engine, causing an overload and complete emergency shutdown of the drive unit.

  There was nothing Ezri could do in the time available to right the ship and prevent the outcome, the Erstwhile was going to hit and maybe they would both be terminated in the impact. Her only option was to see if she could try to level their course sufficiently to prevent too much structural damage. The shots seemed to be more to overload systems than to punch holes in the ship, which they had successfully done with the port thrusters and subsequently their drive system.

  At least it was encouraging they were not just trying to blow the ship up straight away, although the moon was threatening to complete the job for them.

  With lightning fast adjustments and manipulation of the attitude control thrusters, Ezri managed to level the Erstwhile so that she would land on her belly, but her velocity would then cause the damage below.

  Then the whole flight deck juddered and halted its momentum suddenly as Ezri piled forwards and impacted heavily with her console. She could take a good amount of punishment, not subject to the restrictive sensation of pain as her organic counterparts were but even her body had limits to its endurance under such duress.

  In the moments that followed as the micro-reactor within her frame commenced emergency shutdown, Ezri quickly implemented her preprogrammed recovery protocol program within the Erstwhile’s computer core. It would be able to guide rescuers to re-enabling her core functionality so that she may assist fully with the recovery efforts, or lock out the computer should they prove uncooperative.

  Her efforts yielded success as the protocol established itself, moments before her artificial frame became inoperable and immobile. Her fate, and that of the ship in which she resided, was now in the hands of their rescuers but with such a distance between them and the core worlds, such people were bound to be from the colony which had just shot them down.

  Dust and silence descended upon the Erstwhile.

  10 Confinement

  Maddox sat on the steel bench which was firmly bolted to the stone wall, a fact he had discovered to his dismay as he had tried to wrest it free of its securing points in an effort to reach the air distribution vent which was located high up in the opposite wall. Now he just glared at the metallic grated cover as if it were taunting him by it’s unreachable status.

  As the circular steering wheel like handle set in the centre of the only access door into his confinement began to spin, he glanced at it momentarily and then took a deep breath to compose himself so that he may give his captors a disinterested response, almost as if he did not care about his incarceration which was far from the reality of the situation. At that very moment he was very concerned as to the fate of his companion in this misadventure.

  The Sentinel had brought them here, directing him inside and then the door had been closed. His simple instructions were to wait as someone would be along presently to see to him. Further protestations made towards the closed door were not responded to and he could hear Maia on the outside arguing her case also, but the voices became distan
t as they departed.

  He could not help but think back to her protestations at the airlock when they boarded the Martian ship and his reluctance to her remaining on board, but she had been insistent and he had caved in. Now the fact that she was captive and held somewhere separate from himself was just an added problem he had to try and deal with.

  The wheel completed its cycle and the door swung open quickly to reveal an opening with no obvious signs of anyone on the outside. Then a figure sidled into view, silhouetted by the bright lights which were present in the corridor in contrast to the almost yellowish dull glow of those within this holding area.

  ‘I warn you now that I have guards out here who will gun you down should you try anything foolish,’ said the figure, however Maddox could not help but hear a tinge of nervousness in the voice as he spoke.

  ‘So you have goons out there with you. Big whoop. Now how about you step in here with me to explain why you have abducted me and my crew-mate, dragged us all the way out here and locked us up?’ Maddox responded in a low tone, close to a growl.

  ‘We did not expect you to be on the ship we took from the Martians, but to find you there has proven a valuable bonus to our preparation efforts. I am also directed to inform you that a ship was brought down and crashed into the moon’s surface not too far from here. Seeing as it followed the path of the Martian vessel you were on, together with a review of logs from the Martian ship as to your boarding of the vessel we have to assume it is your own ship and thus must regretfully inform you of its demise, however, any hope you may have to return to the Core Worlds now lies squarely with your compliance with our requests,’ said the young man quite factually whilst he remained just beyond the threshold of the door. He seemed to be growing in confidence as he continued, almost to the point of being arrogant in the knowledge he had the upper hand in this encounter, which Maddox had to acknowledge and reign in the snappy retort he wanted to fire back.

  ‘Okay then, seeing as we’re all going to be friends here, I have to tell you that you’ve shot down a freighter which posed no threat to you whatsoever,’ Maddox calmly replied and paused to take a breath and compose himself, more for appearance sake than to suppress his own rage. ‘We were investigating the Martian ship as she appeared to be in distress when your tin man stepped in and took us hostage. That freighter and my crew were probably following to try and save their crew-mates. Sorry to bruise your ego, but it had nothing to do with you.’

  The figure crossed the threshold into the holding cell and Maddox glanced over to him, scrutinising the youthful face, mop of blond hair and slim build as he entered.

  ‘Must admit I expected members of this Children of Earth to be a bit more rugged and roguish, I mean you’re just a mere boy. What are you? Twelve, thirteen? I’m Captain John Maddox by the way, very nice to make your acquaintance,’ said Maddox as he tried to put his desperation about the fate of the Erstwhile on hold for the moment.

  There was a distinct look of indignation upon the young face as he went to retort and then caught himself, visibly swallowing before emitting a chuckle and wagging a long thin finger towards Maddox reproachfully.

  ‘Oh, very good. Very good, slip in an insult to make me lower my guard. Learn all you can before striking.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Maddox replied with an innocent shrug. ‘Well, not exactly I should say. I mean you can forget about the striking bit as you’re the one with the guns, but I am interested in finding out more about you certainly, as well as what you have done with the young lady who arrived here with me? Her name is Maia by the way, and a member of my crew so I hope she is being treated well.’

  ‘She has been taken to another holding room and I assure you she will remain well and fairly treated as long as we have your unreserved cooperation Captain Maddox,’ the young man replied earnestly.

  ‘I see,’ Maddox mused out loud, but silently pondered to himself about the fact they were using Maia as leverage against him, forcing him to submit to their requests. Trying to retain as much of an unconcerned air about him as possible, not wishing to give away the fact he was truly worried for her safety and resented their host’s actions in using her future well being against him, Maddox beamed a big grin back to the young man. ‘Well, that’s a relief, although I would suggest you avoid being in a cell with her on your own, you know how these Venusian girls can be at times. Bit of a handful that one. In any case, seeing as you went to all that trouble to be noticed and here I am noticing you, why not share some detail about yourselves and what you want from me? What about your name for starters?’

  Again the young man paused for a short time, his eyes still fixed upon Maddox sat on the bench until a furrowed expression overcame his face and his previously harsh and authoritative demeanour seemed to be replaced by one of intrigue.

  ‘I do apologise. We do not have any visitors out here and therefore there has been no requirement for understanding proper social pleasantries or greetings. My name is Marcus and you are indeed within our small colony, home to the group you know as the Children of Earth. If I were to summarise what we would most like to obtain from you, it would be the experiences you have had since the end of the war with Mars, the developments and changes within the core world colonies from a personal perspective.’

  ‘My experiences?’ Maddox replied with confusion. ‘I’ll tell you whatever you want to know by all means, but can’t you just hook up to SOLnet and download all the news reports to see what is happening? I mean, not to do myself out of a job here, but if you can instigate those pranks back in the core and then take control over a Martian ship remotely, surely someone around here knows how to tune into a current affairs channel?’

  Maddox regarded the young man’s face earnestly for a moment as Marcus once again paused to deliberate upon his reply. His expression and his body language had eluded to a confident manner, but now Maddox was being more conversational and relaxed, there seemed to be a hint of uncertainty behind his mannerisms most probably arising from inexperience in dealing with visitors or trying to second guess what Maddox might do if he was allowed out of confinement.

  The simple fact was that even though these people sought to return to the core, they had been in isolation for quite a few years and by the look of the young man stood in front of him, had grown up not knowing anything other than each other and the reported information they received over SOLnet.

  ‘We believe that you may gain a better understanding once you have met our council and we introduce you to how our society works. Our link to SOLnet and therefore the media of the inner worlds are very limited due to our distance from the outermost relay and orbital rotation of our own colony about Jupiter. Our Artificial Intelligence program handles most of our incoming and outgoing feeds, but only when we are able to establish a tenuous narrow band link to the core computer network. This is why it is quite fortuitous when the computer detected your presence on the Martian ship and concluded your preservation in order to enlighten us first hand would be more beneficial to our purpose than your demise.’

  ‘Well, I shall give your computer my thanks when I meet with it, and of course shall try and live up to these expectations it has of me.’ Maddox said as pleasantly as he could as he shrugged and furnished Marcus with a big beaming smile.

  Slowly pushing against the steel bench and raising to a standing position whilst ensuring he made no sudden moves in case his host was indeed as unsure of himself in this situation as he suspected he might be, Maddox stretched and then raised an eyebrow as he glanced once more about the stone walls of his confinement cell and eventually rested his gaze upon the young man’s face.

  ‘Well Marcus my young friend, if it means I get to stretch my legs a bit whilst seeing what I can offer in terms of helpful suggestions and tales of back home then let’s press on shall we? I’m looking forward to meeting this council of yours.’

  The young man smiled broadly in response. It gave Maddox the impression that this was the response he had secretly be
en hoping for as they must have had no idea what to do with him should he have decided to resist.

  ‘Very good,’ the young man replied to accompany the smile. ‘As they are very keen on meeting with you Captain Maddox and sharing your experiences,’ he almost gushed out rapidly as he stepped slightly to one side of the open door, gesturing toward the opening eagerly.

  Maddox nodded and returned the smile, keeping the pleasantries up as he suppressed the nagging thoughts about the fate of the Erstwhile, Ezri and Maia. Once he was outside, maybe he could do something for them, but he would definitely be of no use to them whilst still incarcerated.

  As Maddox exited from the cell and Marcus followed in his wake, the eager young man added the fact that he was actually seventeen in response to Maddox’s early query.

  Nodding in acknowledgement, Maddox did not voice his concerns, but he hoped like hell there was someone a bit older running the whole show.

  11 The Children of Earth

  Despite his hopes, Maddox had listened to Marcus’ quick recounting on how they had come to be so far away from the established colonies on the inner worlds and those sporadic holdings, which existed within the belt and it seemed that all those involved in the tale were no older than Marcus himself. He had landed in the midst of a colony of mere children.

  The guards who Marcus had spoken of were most certainly younger than their more vocal spokesperson, seeming to be dwarfed by the rather old rifles they had slung over their shoulders. Maddox had a fleeting thought as to whether they even knew how to fire the things, or remove the safety to allow the rifle to fire in the first place, but decided not to put this to the test and continue with his apparent collusion until he had seen more of their facility and knew more about the operation itself. He could not fault their effectiveness in striking deep within the inner worlds and to a certain extent applauded their acts, although had to fall short of fully supporting them as the repercussions and collateral damage would have prevented a group like Phoenix from committing the same acts.