Orphans of Middle Mars: Book One of the Chronicles of Middle Mars

by CJ East

  He leveled the dagger at the lifeless man. “Viktor Volkov you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. I condemn you to a private Hell. Its fires will eat at your flesh and never consume it. Anguish and isolation will be your only companions. Comfort and hope will flee from you. Not even death’s sting will ease your suffering.”

  Viktor’s body stiffened, like a sleeper in a nightmare. Kinch glowered at the tortured body as it shuddered with internal agony.

  Pythia’s voice was soft and soothing. “You have a gift, boy. I will teach you more.”

  Reunion

  Kinch pushed open the door to Viktor’s cell and stood on the threshold. There were signs of struggle. He could sense Sashenka’s presence. He concentrated on the fearful rhythm of her pounding heart.

  He stepped into the large officer’s cell. Sashenka was here, but hiding. The racing of her mind became clearer as he focused on it - she was counting.

  “… two, three!”

  Behind him the door whooshed closed with an explosive kick. He spun to catch the downward arc of steel table leg inches before it smashed into his face. A frustrated scream followed the release of steel bar. The soft bottom of her fists beat wild, rapid blows to his face and neck.

  He dropped her weapon and grabbed both wrists. Her hair escaped from her pony tail in tousled strands covering her face. Her screams turned to sobbing whimpers as she slunk down to the floor - defeated. Her legs gave way beneath her and only his grip dangled her dead weight from the floor.

  Kinch froze with compassion. “Sashenka.”

  Her head lifted with a sudden alertness. She peered up to her captor through tears and disheveled hair. He pulled her up with gentle strength, placing her arms around his shoulders. “You are safe now. I’ve come back for you.”

  He brushed aside her hair exposing a fresh cheek bruise and a swollen lip from a cruel slap or fist. He tucked the strands behind her ear. “You are going to be okay. It’s over.”

  She buried her head into his chest and wept. She tried to speak through the sobs. “How? Chang said he tracked you.”

  “Let’s sit down for a minute.” He guided her to the edge of the bed and stood inspecting her. “Are you hurt?”

  She wiped the moisture from her eyes and pulled her hair back with a cleansing exhale. She stretched the tense muscles of her face into relaxation. “I’m a mess. It is regrettable you have to see me like this.”

  He grabbed her hand and sat next to her. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you at all. Are you hurt?”

  She searched his face trying to understand how he was alive. She turned to the open door and her expression turned cold.

  “I’m better now. Where is he?”

  “He can’t hurt anyone. None of them can.”

  “What did you do, Kinch?”

  “I made things right.”

  “Did you… kill them? Kill all of them?”

  “No. I didn’t. Part of me wanted to give them the justice they deserved for what they did to you, to Sully and the others. An eye for and eye, a life for a life.”

  She put her hand on his. “I’m glad you didn’t. Now tell me how you are with us.”

  There was something about her eyes. He could trust her with most of the truth. She could help him get off this path. “Sashenka, things are happening to me. Things I don’t fully understand. Things I don’t like.”

  She lifted her knee to the bed to face him. “You mean like when you read our thoughts?”

  “Yes. I know that was wrong. It was an emergency. But yes, I can read thoughts.” He looked down at their embracing hands.

  “There is an entire biosphere of life in the cave systems of Mars. There are races of people, and a rain forest full of creatures. It is some kind of controlled ecosystem made by an advanced civilization before the atmosphere of Mars dissipated.”

  “So your visitor, she is real? You met her?”

  “Yes, the one who read my mind and created this for me.” He patted the dagger tucked in his belt. “Amica is a priestess who adopts orphans. She saved my life when I entered their world.”

  “Kinch. You understand your story is difficult for me to believe, yes?”

  “Oh, I do. Wait until I get to the Army of the Damned and the telepathic dragons. Not to mention how everyone speaks Latin. I haven’t had time to figure it out.”

  “Wait. You are going too fast. This Damned Army, let us begin there.”

  He explained the past few days to Sashenka in detail. He told her everything, except the part about taking Elatus and Pythia into his body. She listened in quiet contemplation, sometimes asking questions for clarification. She accepted his story without challenge.

  He finished his story with the description of the guardian. “He said he was responsible to protect life in Middle Mars. He reminded me of a game keeper in a preserve.”

  “What did he want from you?”

  “He wanted to know my motivation. He said I had become very powerful and a threat to the balance of Middle Mars on becoming the king of the Small Dome.”

  “You are now royalty?” Sashenka’s tone turned incredulous.

  “When I killed the big dragon, Drakon, I inherited his title through a succession of strength. Whether I want it or not, everyone believes it to be true.”

  She leaned back with a taunting smile. “A prophet and a king. A considerable improvement to being a - what did you call your job - interplanetary grease monkey?”

  “I know it is unbelievable. I get it, but this is the truth Sashenka.”

  “How is it you came back to us, Kinch.”

  He wrestled with the truth as she studied him. Pythia’s inner voice coaxed him into safety. “This child does not understand the world. She will condemn you.”

  He patted her hand. “It is part of these knew abilities. I can control thoughts, move objects and even teleport. I pictured my cell and barely made it back. Back where I belong.”

  She warmed to a laugh. “Yes. This is where you belong.”

  “Should we go to meet the others? They are waiting for our return. I’m sure Venkat is worried.”

  “I would like very much to see them.”

  Sashenka put her hand on Kinch’s back as he opened Viktor’s door and walked into the hallway. A scraping sound coming from the commons made her squeeze his arm and whisper. “Be careful.”

  Kinch strode into the open section of the colony where Brzezinski was dragging himself to the operations room hallway.

  Sashenka gasped. “God have mercy. What did you do to him?”

  The words convicted him as he veered toward his cell. “He’ll be alright. Really, he’s fine.”

  “How can you say that? He’s pulling himself across the floor! What did you do?”

  A dark flood of power pulsed from the crater of Elatus. He turned on her in a flash of anger. “I could have killed him and he would have deserved it! You were going to do worse to whoever walked in Volkov’s cell.”

  The consequences of his words reflected in her eyes. He looked to the ceiling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to compare… I had to take him out of play and I knew you wouldn’t want me to kill him. I didn’t do any permanent damage. I broke an arm and dislocated his knee and shoulder. Just to immobilize him.”

  “Well, he’s mobile and he’s hurt. It is inhumane.”

  Kinch concentrated on Brzezinski’s body slapping the floor and pulling himself across the commons. He entered the man’s anguished mind and whispered a command. “Sleep.”

  Brzezinski’s head hit the floor with a dull thud. “He’s sleeping now.” Kinch took a few hurried steps, eager to leave the situation and the conversation behind. He stopped short with the icy realization that Sashenka was not following. Her fear cut him deeper than any sword.

  “Kinch. No. It’s too much power. It isn’t right.”

  He stepped toward her. She recoiled.

  “You can help me, Sashenka. I came back for your help. I don’t want this to
happen to me.”

  “What are you becoming? This is cruel. Those stories you told about the army you fought. The hundreds of men you killed. What is happening to you?”

  He started to plead with her. “Those weren’t real people. They were more like organic robots. I mean, they are called the Damned, after all.” Her eyes widened. He tried to explain. “No, but the situation. They were going to kill me, Sashenka. I haven’t killed anyone who didn’t deserve it - really.”

  Her brow lowered and a frown began to quiver. “You keep saying you know what people deserve. You may have this incredible power, but who are you to decide this? Who placed you in the Judgment Seat over who lives and dies?”

  Pythia’s inner voice dominated his thoughts. “We’ve listened to this self-righteous child’s prattle long enough. She doesn’t want to understand anything you have told her. She will not help you, Kinch. She will only weaken your convictions and complicate your decisions. The girl will imprison you with a moral paralysis of analysis. Unsophisticated juvenile. Do you think she could have remained alive if she were in your place?”

  “Easy, Pythia. I’ve got this.” He chastised.

  He placed his palms together in a prayerful position. “Sashenka, please don’t judge me harshly. This has all happened so fast - the colony rebellion, Middle Mars, coming back. I haven’t had time to think about consequences, or even right and wrong. I have been trying to stay alive.”

  Fear washed her face a cold white. “How is it possible I can help you? With this thing you are doing? It is so hard to believe.”

  He stepped to her. “Don’t you see? You already have. You remember your reaction to the Neuromorphine and space travel? I didn’t know what to do for you either, but I was there for you. Can you be there for me?”

  Sashenka’s eyes widened. She ran to him and fell on his neck and wept. “I’m sorry. I am afraid. Everything is so out of control. Of course I will help you. Don’t use these powers until you have to. Not until we understand and have control over them.”

  “I won’t. Thank you, Sashenka. Thank you for believing in me.”

  She composed herself and assumed her gentle strength. She took his hand and pulled him toward his cell. “Let us not keep them waiting. There is much to discuss.”

  Deadlock

  When Sashenka opened the door to Kinch’s cell, Grace ran to her in an open embrace. Dr. Singh had joined the group of teenagers. She rose from the bed in a slow, unsteady pivot.

  “I am seeing this, but I am not believing.” She laughed and put a hand over her mouth.

  He strode across the room and gave her an exaggerated kiss on the cheek in his cupped hands. “Believe it! And I owe it all to you for sewing me back together.”

  She shook her head looking to Venkat. “They have told me the most incredible things. Telepaths and dragons in the caverns underground.”

  “It’s all true.” He clasp her hands and sat with her back on his bed. “Pushpa, you are a trained scientist. You remember when you pulled me out of the Neuromorphine coma? You said there was high activity in parts of my brain normally not used? I think I’m using those areas for these new powers I have. A telepath received the signals my amped-up brain was transmitting.”

  Pushpa pulled back a little, trying to preserve her professional objectivity. “But this is all while you were unconscious. You were influenced by extreme trauma and a brain injury. You were given a drug intended to cause vivid reality supplanting stimulus. Kinch, there is a physiological explanation.”

  “Agreed. But you remember this dagger? It is my flight deck totem. The telepath gave it to me as a gift after I woke up. She read my memories and made it physically. It has an inscription which I didn’t reveal to anyone. It isn’t recorded in my dat file.”

  The reunion in the room had grown quiet. They watched Dr. Singh examine the facts. “I saw the dagger. Everyone did. It is unexplained.”

  “And I am alive. Two days after walking into a cave. And I am here. Even if you don’t believe there is life on this planet, you can’t deny your eyes. You must accept I survived somewhere and returned.”

  “You will forgive me, I am having doubts. What if you never left the colony, but hid from your pursuers in the basalt tunnels? It is understandable you would want every colonist to accept you died on the surface.”

  Chang broke his silence. “Arjun instructed me to reroute the geo-survey drone. We tracked his transport assuming the navigation mode was set to automatic.” He turned to Kinch. “Viktor believed you had sent the transport as a distraction. He said you lurked outside waiting to pry open the elevator doors to gain entrance.”

  Kinch nodded. “I thought about it, but I gave up. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of killing me.”

  Chang winced in regret. “Viktor was prepared. Both entrances were guarded, you could not have been successful.” He turned back to Dr. Singh. “I showed Viktor the surveillance of Kinch walking the boulder field. The General gloated when Kinch entered the cave with no oxygen canisters.”

  Pushpa examined Kinch with a furrowed brow. She patted his hand. “I accept you are here at this moment.” Her change of expression conveyed her concern. “There has been so much death. You are not safe in the colony.”

  Sashenka pulled Grace in front of the bed to close a circle. “He has powers. I saw him use psychic powers. He made Brzezinski unconscious without touching the man.”

  A nervous energy flooded Kinch as he confessed. “Viktor and the others. They are all sleeping.”

  Venkat’s eyes widened in amazement. “You made them sleep with a command from your thoughts? Oh my! It is marvelous! How long will Arjun sleep?”

  “Indefinitely.”

  Grace turned to Chang. “We can’t just let human beings sleep forever.”

  Chang dug his hands into his jumpsuit. “They murdered colonists, Grace. They lied to us about the Americans and killed them. We can’t allow them to run free.”

  Kinch felt a pressure in his mind. Pythia hissed a suspicious whisper. “Who is contacting you?”

  “It feels like Amica.” He answered as he walked out of the circle of his friends.

  “Do not form a link with her. She will discover what you have done. If she finds you on the surface, she will know. The priestess will strip your powers and leave you defenseless.”

  Kinch watched his companions. “They are afraid of my powers. I don’t need them now that I am home.”

  Pythia released an abrupt snarl. “Deceiver! You intend to cast me aside to remain with these children? I can destroy your companions with a word.”

  He seized in rage. “I do not respond well to ultimatums.”

  “Nor do I, youngling. We will not remain in this sterile, lifeless place.”

  “We will. This is where I belong.”

  “But I do not belong here among these weak children. I have an elevated status in my realm. Do not embolden yourself to defy me. It was I who killed Elatus before the brute ripped apart your consciousness, not the name you called upon.”

  The inner space of his mind crackled with the energy of the argument. He balled his fists turning to the group discussing their fate. Sashenka held onto Grace. She was safe from Viktor, if not from Pythia. The pressure of a bridge from Amica grew stronger with urgency. He felt her pleading to him. Calling out through fear.

  “I’ll take care of it. I know what to do. Everybody wins, Pythia, so take it easy with the threats. If you go after my friends, everyone will lose - including you. Right now, we need each other. Don’t forget I spared your life from the fate Elatus feared.”

  “I know his fate all too well, Child. I will yield, but let it be known I decide the timing and manner of any separation between us. You cannot guide the complexities of such things.”

  “Deal.”

  Kinch took a deep breath and focused on the thread of light stretching into his mind from Amica.

  “Kinch, blessing be to God. I was so worried. Are you well?”

>   “I’m sorry Amica. I’ve been detained. Everything is under control.”

  “We are in the city. All the Coccino and some believers of the Auri.”

  “The city? But why? The dragons are everywhere. They will think I am with you.”

  Amica did not respond. He felt her presence growing. Her inner voice filled his mind as she spoke. “You are not here. You have left us.”

  He clinched his jaw and tightened his eyes at his betrayal. “Amica, my friends were in danger. I had to go back. They needed me.”

  “What have you done to yourself?”

  He raised his head in defiance. “I made some tough choices. I did what I had to do to set things right. Now I’m coming back.”

  Amica’s presence seemed to wilt. “I see. Where will you go?”

  “I’ll meet you at the city. I need to convince my friends to join me.” He paused, waiting for her to speak. “Amica, they aren’t like me. They haven’t been trained to kill. They are innocents.”

  “I cannot sense them, but I do sense another. Please listen to my words and let them rest upon your heart. Kinch, your obligation to your friends is most honorable, but there is so much more to life than duty. There is a world of difference between performing acts of commitment and acts borne of love. Love is the greater of the two. It is the only power which can save you now.”

  A cold chill tingled his spine. “Have someone to meet them at the blue door.”

  “They will be cared for. Not out of our obligation to you, but from our love. Kinch, do not trust her.”

  The connection dissolved. The creeping blackness of Pythia flowed back into him as her inner voice filled his mind. “She knows I have brought you to the surface. The priestess is shrewd and dangerous.”

  “Amica has a dragon problem, and so do you. You’re a dragon without a dragon body. We can all win if we play nice.”

  The polite discussion had grown into a lively debate. Grace Chen shouted, “I don’t know! Maybe we could build a jail!”