The Joining: The Saga of the Shards Book One (The Cycle of the Shards 1)

by Chris Stephenson

  “Comparatively to the rest of the universe, yeah. Half your planet is at war with the other because of factors that they have no control over.. Most don’t believe in anything outside religions invented thousands of years before by people who didn’t understand what a cloud was. You’re still using limited resources and pretending they’re unlimited, just hoping your generation dies out before the check comes due. You’ve still got weapons capable of wiping out every life on this planet ready to go at the first paranoid delusion, and you’re more than willing to screw up the planet itself to feed your own shortsightedness. Yeah. Uneducated and primitive.“

  “So what, you come down here and play the holy warrior and preach to us how to live? Why not just start off with ‘Take me to your leader’ while you’re at it!” Shanna felt a blast of anger, as if she realized that she should be defending her entire race.

  “I’m not telling you how to live, just calling it like it is. It’s one of a thousand planets in the same situation. You’re young. I’ve seen it before. There’s a lot of ifs. Too many. IF a meteor doesn’t wipe you out, IF there’s not some plague, IF you don’t kill everyone on the planet because their God has a different name than your God, IF you don’t get hit by a solar flare or a Gamma Ray burst and IF you put enough efforts to building things to help instead of hurt, then you’ll get past this stage. You’ll go poking around the galaxy, and IF you don’t run into the wrong species on the wrong day, you’ll join up with one of the good empires, and it’ll be a much better life for everyone. Protection, long life, and security till the cycle ends.” He looked at Shanna, hoping that she would understand. It’s not anything the she herself was responsible for, and probably not anything that she could do about it really, as the sheep couldn’t control which way they were led by their shepherd.

  She just turned back silently. “So this planet sucks, then.”

  He rolled his eyes slightly. “Every planet has this stage. Hopefully you’ll get through it. A lot do. A lot don’t.”

  Shanna suddenly stood up and walked a few paces away, slightly down the hill but not angrily, more in a slight pacing motion, looking at the stars, in the direction of Critock’s home. “It’s not fair. People out there have spaceships and they’re so far advanced, why can’t they just come down here and fix things!”

  “Welll…For starters, your race doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to others that are different. All around the world, whoever doesn’t look or believe the same are the first targets for the established. What do you think’s going to happen when the Targaniox Ferom show up? Nicest guys in the universe. Cure any disease you want, build you anything you like. Just love to help. They can build a box that you can go in and live any fantasy you can come up with for a thousand years, and then you come out and only a minute has passed. Greatest invention in history. Catch is, they look like an inside-out cockroach and smell like death passed gas. You think Earth, where it is right now, is going to do anything besides throw a nuclear bomb at them and hope that does the trick?”

  Shanna was quiet in acceptance, and decided to change the subject back to the primary problem. “So they’re going to destroy Earth if you can’t find this Pt’ron?”

  Critock nodded, watching as Shanna paced by his side. “That’s the plan. Two missiles, one for each shard. If they aren’t neutralized, they ignite the atmosphere. Earth becomes a very small sun for a while.”

  “But that’s horrible! I thought your people were supposed to be so advanced, and your first reaction to a problem is to kill billions of people?”

  Critock shook his head. “I know it’s not going to make any sense, but it’s a lot better than the alternative.”

  “NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!” Shanna spun around to face him. What happens if he gets away?”

  “Pt’ron has the Shards. These particular two have been inactive for millennia, but they are going live tomorrow. At that point, he gets imbued with all their powers. Instant Godhood. He’ll subjugate the entire human race, get off world, and form a whole new empire. End result, another war that’ll end up destroying unfathomable amounts of people.”

  “What the hell is a Shard?”

  Critock stood up slowly. “I’m not sure I can even try to explain.”

  Shanna walked right up to him, staring angrily into Kyle’s face. “If they’re going to destroy the world over it, and it’s your fault, try.” Critock looked back at her, meeting the gaze, and for a moment, the two stared deep into each other’s eyes, before Critock broke it off, letting out a breath and looking up into the sky.

  “Nobody really knows, to be honest. I told you Marconians, my race, were the oldest in the universe? The Shards were here first. They are small, red pieces of death that are a plague, and if there is one thing that I am tired of dealing with, it’s them.”

  “So it’s not just these two?”

  “Hell no. They’re only rare because of how big the universe is. And they’re all different. The main line ones just give your standard unlimited cosmic powers. There’s the control shards that can grow and show you where the other ones are, and then there’s the big daddy Master shard that controls them all. That one’s just a myth, but there’s so many different types of the damn things that it wouldn’t surprise me.

  “My favorite is the prophecy ones. Marconian Qua’roti…I’m sorry, the religious cult or sect or whatever, have got a few of those locked down. They pull up possible futures of anyone that they come in contact with. So of course they march every child through the thing and get kids screwed up nice and early. It’s a wonder that the Empire is still around.”

  “Wait, they can tell the future! Then…”

  “I said possible futures. Timelines are splintered and fractured and if something hasn’t happened yet nothing can be said with any certainty. So here’s a kid and you show him he might be a teacher, then that might inspire him to be the best teacher he can be. But what if that’s not the best future for him? What if he rebels and becomes something else, or he’s a terrible teacher, or he goes insane and jumps off a bridge the next day because he doesn’t want that future for himself at all? What if this supposed amazing future never happens?”

  Critock walked away, exasperated at the past, and Shanna followed, torn between wanting to get more information about what was going on, what this alien’s world was like, and finding out more about Critock himself. “It sounds like you didn’t like your future then.”

  Critock stopped, and turned quickly. “Imagine being…what’s the equivalent age here, five? Five years old. And being told you are the savior of…everything. The entire universe and it’s future is one hundred percent your responsibility. Your prophecy is to be a hero. It even comes with a damn poem!” He closed his eyes, and recited from memory, in a annoyingly crisp tone, mimicking the Qua’roti prophecy masters of his youth.

  Forgotten son of the Rule, Child of the Shards

  He shall win but lose, he who falls

  He who shall be lost but be home

  A sacrifice denied, a family gained and gone

  The Darkness loops for time unknown

  All as before but all will change

  He who meets the lost creator, his mistake redeemed

  Reluctant to rule in the face of regret

  Love lost, found, and lost again

  Old lands lost, battles in time waged

  Light and Dark shall join

  The weapons will be equal and terrible

  The cycle ends, and at the close comes The Return.

  Critock finished the stanza, and looked at Shanna piercingly. “That’s what I had shoved down my throat from day one. No idea what any of that means, though everywhere I went people would bring it up. Scholars from the ends of the Universe would find me. There’s classes taught on that prophecy. Some worlds have it as a religion! You know what happened to me after that? You know what part of that epic thing was real? NOTHING!” He yelled his last to the sky, and then was quiet. The
only sounds were the usual night ambience. “You want to screw up a kid for life? Tell him he’s destined to be the best there ever was. Tell him the universe will sing his praises forever. Then have nothing happen that’s even the slightest bit close to what he was expecting. And then…” He stopped again, a strong mixture of sadness and anger filling his face and Shanna knew not to pry. Instead, wanting to calm him down, she changed the subject and asked about one particular word he had used multiple times.

  “You kept saying cycle. What’s a cycle?”

  He turned, glad to not have to explain the rest of his life story to the girl. “Depends on which use you mean. In general Marconian terms, a cycle is somewhere close to two Earth years. It’s the length of time the planet takes to completely orbit both of our suns. But you’re probably meaning within the poem.” She nodded. “It’s popped up in a lot of other ancient religious texts. It’s the cycle of time itself. The universe is born, big explosion, gases expanding, God waving a magic wand, whatever science or mysticism you’d like to use, it happens. It lasts for a very long time. Billions, Trillions of cycles or years, whatever. Then, one day, it ends. Big Collapse, doomsday device, something. So that’s it, right? No more life, no more, well, anything. Except it’s not. It just starts over again. Different circumstances, different people, nothings the same way twice. Then that all goes through. It ends. It starts. It ends. It starts. The Cycle of time.” Shanna looked as though in awe. This was far beyond anything she had learned about in school. Even the possibility of the time and happenings involved with what he was saying was unfathomable.

  Critock smirked. “Something, huh? It’s a theory, not really backed up by any real evidence. Except the Shards. Marconians were the first race around. We watched the universe grow, and at this rate we’ll probably be here to watch it end. So if we were the first…Where did the Shards come from?”

  Shanna’s eyes widened as Critock continued. “Exactly. It’s all conjecture and scripture at that point. How did the Shards survive the old universe?”

  “Do Marconians believe in God? Do you have a bible that says what happened?” Even though everything she had just learned would seem to supersede anything that had been taught in a bible, her interest brought her past her feelings of blasphemy, though she hadn’t stepped foot in a church in some time.

  Critock stopped for a second, wanting to be very careful how he approached answering her question. “Well…Like I said, we were the first race in the universe. Since everything showed up after us except for the Shards, we got to watch and see everyone else’s thoughts about where they come from and Gods and we dismissed the lot, mostly. When you spend a lot of time empirically proving other people’s religions as nonsense, you end up with a pretty high water-mark with what you’re going to believe yourself. So no, no God, no holy scripture that gets written down years before and never updated. Closest thing we have to that anymore is The Five.”

  “The Five?”

  “Glorified children’s story, mainly. Tries to explain where the universe and the Shards came from at the same time and doesn’t do a real good job of either. Basic version. Before our universe began there was another one that was fizzling out. Races had moved on, evolved, transcended to alternate universes, etc. There was a few races that banded together that had no physical way out of their universe, so they tried to make one. Built a device out of everyone else’s technology, and the five were the ones that were in charge of it. Something went wrong, it blew up, killed them all, and this universe was born from theirs. The only things left of their universe are the Shards themselves.”

  Shanna shuddered. “Not a real happy children’s story.”

  “It’s more of a cautionary tale. Sometimes your fate is just your fate, and trying to avoid it may only make things worse. Since encountering a Shard usually ended up becoming a horror story for everyone, it worked to give everyone a proper fear and awe of the damn things.”

  Critock was tiring of the topics of his race, and decided to see how she would react to a similar theme of questioning. “So what about you?”

  Shanna was taken off guard. “Huh?”

  “What about you? Tell me about yourself, about Earth.” Truthfully, Critock didn’t care about the primitive planet next to the Marconian Empire, but he needed a break.

  “I’m not interesting, at all. You’re the alien.”

  “Well, technically, to me you’re an alien. I’ve never been to Earth, Hell, I’ve never even heard of the place until today. And you’re at least a little bit interesting. What makes a girl so unafraid that she’s willing to help and have a conversation with probably the only alien that anyone on the planet has ever encountered?”

  Shanna gulped. “Ever?”

  “I wasn’t kidding when I said your planet is a backwater. Nobody in their right mind is going to want to come here unless they had to. Pt’ron’s been here so long he’s probably gone native, so nobody would realize there’s anything different about him.” He paused, and sat back onto the grass. “So tell me. Who’s Shanna Ewing?”

  She sighed. “I told you, there’s nothing to me.”

  “You’re not making an impressive first contact here.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not trying to represent the planet.”

  “Then don’t. Introduce yourself?” Critock didn’t really know what was driving his interest. Probably some sort of behind the scenes machinations from Kyle bubbling up to the surface, he figured.

  “Fine. I’m Shanna Ewing. I’m fifteen years old, I’m a cheerleader, I like long walks on the beach and officially can’t drink so I wouldn’t know anything about margaritas. Happy?”

  There was a few stray thoughts bothering Kyle and Critock had run across them several times. No time like the present to solve the mystery for both of them. “Why are you a cheerleader?”

  “I…” She stopped. “What?”

  “Well, I mean you’re beautiful, in that teenage kid awkward phase kind of thing that Kyle seems to like, but you don’t fit. It’s obvious just from looking that you aren’t overly close with the other skirts, your tastes seem more, well…” He gestured towards her clothing, more for comfort than enhancing her attractiveness. “And not to fit into a cliché but you are more the computer type. AND there’s that whole bit with Claire that she was telling me about. So what gives? The kid’s never going to ask about it, and I don’t like lingering questions.”

  Shanna caught on one word, and used it to try and dodge the oddly personal question from the alien who had never met her before today. “Kid? How old are you?”

  He closed his eyes, trying to do the calculations to Earth’s years. “I think…Three thousand years? Something around that number? The cycles don’t exactly add up.”

  She whistled, and smirked. “So trolling Earth’s schools for chicks working out for you?”

  Critock didn’t miss a beat, pulling directly from Kyle’s memories of particularly painful Earth fiction. “Well, girls here do seem to fall in love awfully easily with older men. Should I have said I was a vampire, instead? A few sparkles, perhaps?”

  She stopped, processing, and then burst out laughing. Critock didn’t understand the context, but would rather have her at ease with him and laughing than the opposite. “Not this girl, Grandpa. Or…Great..Great…Great…”

  “Try not to think about it. There’s probably about twenty generations between me and you. But you’re evading the subject. Cheerleader. You. What?”

  “I don’t suppose ‘None of your business’ is going to work?”

  “This open book business goes both ways. Shoot.”

  Shanna theatrically sighed. “Fine. My mom. Cheerleading was a big part of her life, then she broke her ankle, missed out on a lot of stuff. So she’s more or less forced me into doing it. I don’t like it. I’m not really into the dancing and showing off and stuff, you have to deal with comments from ignorant people. Not just boys but their fathers. You’re an instant slut to any girl that doesn’t get
in, and if you try to hang out with people outside of the team, you’re ostracized.”

  “Why don’t you just tell your mother that you don’t want to do it?”

  “HA!” She laughed again, though more sarcastically. “You don’t know my mom. It’s ok. Couple more years, she won’t be able to stop me. Unless I pretend to screw up. Or break my ankle or something. It’s tempting.”

  “Ok, so no cheerleading in your future. What do you want to do, then?”

  She stopped for a second. “You know what? I don’t know. We don’t have prophecies or Qua’roti or anything. We have college and counselors. And they try to lock you in to a career before you’re ready. Before you’re supposed to even drink!” He noted that this was the second time that she had brought up alcohol, but he didn’t want to get quite that involved in her life. “Between that and mom…I don’t know Ky…Cri-tock?” She put a short pause in between the syllables of the Earth pronunciation of his name that he oddly found endearing. “Maybe I just want to be left alone to figure things out? Maybe there’d be a lot less problems if everyone was just left alone to figure it out for themselves?

  “Can’t argue with that, on any planet.” Critock shook his head, the beginnings of a plan forming to assuage his constant background guilt regarding his forced occupation of the teenager’s body. “Ok, so some of that explains you and Kyle.”

  “Kyle?” Shanna had been slowly starting to enjoy her conversation with Critock, but his slightly probing statement had struck a chord. “Where is he? Can he hear us? Is he going to be okay?” Her line of questioning was turning almost frantic.

  He closed his eyes, hoping to hear some kind of response from the boy himself. Unfortunately, no answer came, forcing him to move forward on his own. “He’s…here. He’s in here.”

  “I don’t understand. How can you just ‘take over’ his body? How could he have let you?”

  “He didn’t really…let me. It was an accident.”

  Shanna advanced on Critock, sending him falling backwards on his elbows. “You forced your way in and took him over? Do you know what that sounds like?”