by Conner, Jack
Gingerly, he said, “How do you feel now—after having seen the movie?”
“I feel great. That zombie guy kicked ass!”
Hildra, we have to talk. “That’s not what I meant. The feelings you’ve been wrestling with ... about feeling different. Did the movie help?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t really seem ... well, I don’t know. Anything like me, I guess. He was supernatural. Y’know?”
“I know.”
“But I liked that he was strong. Tough! He faced everybody down—and kicked their ass.” She giggled again, then grew sober. “But everybody hated him, and was afraid of him. He was all alone. I don’t want to be alone, Papa.”
“Of course not.” He knelt and hugged her. “You’re not, you know. I’m with you. Janx, Hildra and Layanna are all with you. And we have new friends now, too.”
“Like Aunt Gwen?”
“Like Aunt Gwen. Although, remember what we talked about.”
“Yeah yeah. Don’t talk about her in public.”
He ruffled her hair and began to stand; his back ached in this position. At the last moment, though, he remained how he was, on her level, looking into her eyes. “Ani, what if I told you that I had gotten in touch with your mother’s family?”
Wind blew down the street, which did not seem as busy as it once had, and shadows grew long from the alleys. Ani stared at him, all expression draining from her face.
“I don’t understand. Mama’s people are dead.”
“Or in hiding, yes. Well, some of them want to come out of hiding.”
“But they can’t!” There was sudden anger in her voice. Sudden fear. “They’re Drakes. Everybody hates them—hates them. They’re worse than—worse than me.”
Crying now, she kicked a pebble down the street. Avery grabbed her shoulders, not angrily but firmly. “I’m sorry, honey. Calm down. No one’s worse than anybody, and there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re my little angel. You know that, right?”
She sniffed, her eyes brimming. She nodded.
“Good.” He let out a breath. This wasn’t going how he’d planned. What had he expected, though? She’d been taught all her life how evil the Drakes were, how they’d had to be removed from power by bloody force. It’s what all children were taught. It was true in a fashion, and how else could people support the new government?
When she had quieted, Ani said, “You really mean it? There’s still some of ... of Mama’s family out there?”
He nodded, then tapped her chest. “Your family. The Voryses. That’s their real name.”
Frowning, she mulled on this.
He pulled in a deep breath. “I told them I didn’t want you to meet them, and I still don’t. But they’re survivors. They’ve lived in hiding for decades and have emerged strong and powerful. I think that, if anyone outlasts this current crisis, they will, and I can offer you nothing save danger.” His throat swelled, and he had to speak past the lump. “I think it might be a good idea for you to stay with them for a little while.”
Her eyes were wide. “You want ... want me to go live with them?”
Gods, but this was hard. “Just until I get back from the Crothegra.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Take me home,” she said, stomping her foot for emphasis. “Take me home now!”
He stood—joints creaking—and, putting a hand on her shoulder, led her away. The streets grew darker around him, and emptier, and he began to wish he had brought Janx and Hildra along, after all.
“I don’t want to leave you, Papa,” she said, and though her voice was small and sad it was quite firm. “I don’t ever want to leave you.”
“I don’t want you to, either, honey. I just—I’m not sure if I’m the person you need right now.” He hesitated, then said, “Are you still having your dreams—about the door?”
Just as hesitantly, she nodded. “The singing, Papa. I almost know the words now.”
He hid a shudder. “Well, there’s a man, and he indicated that the dreams are normal for your family. The Voryses. He seems to think he can help you. And it’s either that or let you stay with the Prime Minister while we’re gone.”
“I’d rather stay with her.”
“She’s being hunted, Ani. Admiral Haggarty is actively trying to assassinate her. You would be in danger. I’m sorry. This is the only way I can think of.” He put on a smile. “Besides, Aunt Hildra said that if you’re a good girl and act brave about it, she’ll let you take care of Hildebrand while we’re gone. She doesn’t want to bring him near the jungle.”
Ani’s expression didn’t change, but Avery could tell that the thought of taking care of the monkey wasn’t all that displeasing to her. It might not replace a father, but it was something. As for himself, Avery couldn’t help but smile to imagine how Idris would respond to Hildebrand.
“When am I supposed to go to them?” she said.
He braced himself. “We’re leaving tomorrow for Ezzez, honey. I’ve already contacted your cousin Oris. She’s supposed to meet us at the Parliament Building. We’re going to meet her right now.”
“Now? But ...”
“I know, honey. I know.”
Half an hour later he was watching Ani disappear down the street in Oris’s limo. He didn’t start crying until she was out of sight.
That night he dreamt of Ani being carried away on a huge wave, cold and black, but when he went to chase her great shapes lunged out of the dark sea and thrust at him, each taller than a skyscraper and wider than a city, crackling with lightning and grinding everything to slog beneath their inexorable treads. Even as people fell into their shadows and screamed, Avery thought, I did this. They’re dying because of me. And though he ran to help them he could get no closer—in fact, they seemed to draw further away—and yet, paradoxically, the Starfish drew nearer to him with every moment, so close he could smell the ozone of their lightning and the tang of their gases. And the world shook ...
... shook ...
“Bones, wake up, there’s a problem.”
Avery’s eyes snapped open. He was in bed. Hildra stood over him looking harried, if blurry.
“W-what is it?” he asked, reaching for his glasses.
“One of the P.M.’s aides went missing a few hours ago. It was only just noticed.”
“Missing?” Sitting up, he realized what Hildra was getting at. “Haggarty must have done this.”
“Or Sheridan. It’s a good bet she knows where we’re goin’ by now, if not why. Poor bastard.”
He was suddenly wide awake. “We must leave immediately, before she can move to stop us.”
“Layanna and Janx are already packing.”
THE END
OF VOLUME SIX
OF
THE ATOMIC SEA
THE ATOMIC SEA
PART SEVEN
THE ATOMIC JUNGLE
by Jack Conner
Copyright 2015
All rights reserved
Cover image used with permission
FREE GIFT:
To claim your FREE Jack Conner Starter Library, which includes four whole free novels, sign up for my newsletter here: http://jackconnerbooks.com/newsletter/
The World of the Atomic Sea
For a larger version of the map, go to:
http://jackconnerbooks.com/map-of-the-world-of-the-atomic-sea
This novel is dedicated to a classy lady, Ann Keeran, whose tireless efforts to proofread my novels (at no compensation) have made them stronger across the board. Ann, you rock!
THE STORY SO FAR
BOOK ONE
A thousand years ago, the sea began to change, and the change spread. Now the boiling, toxic, lightning-wreathed Atomic Sea has encompassed every ocean on the planet, and the creatures that live in it have become mutated and unnatural. The sea's taint can infect any human who comes in contact with it or with unprocessed seafood, killing them . . . or altering them. No one knows why the sea has become this way or what it portends,
only that it's irrevocably changed the world.
Meanwhile, world war has erupted, and the small country of Ghenisa, like many others, is tottering on the brink of collapse under the onslaught of the Empire of Octung. Middle-aged widower Dr. Francis Avery is aboard a military whaling ship far out on the Atomic Sea when a series of murders occurs onboard. There is a spy on the ship; the killer is an Octunggen agent.
Things get stranger when a beautiful naked woman is pulled from the Atomic Sea out of the mouth of a great whale. She shows no sign of infection, which makes no sense, and no one can tell where she’s from. She’s in a coma and it falls to Avery to bring her back to consciousness and solve her mysteries.
Meanwhile he’s carrying out a loveless affair with Jessryl Sheridan, a tough, determined woman and the captain of the whaling vessel.
The beautiful woman in the coma, whom he takes to calling Patient X, comes to, briefly, and he’s horrified to hear her speak Octunggen. He’s the only one around. She tells him that she’s not Octunggen, never mind the language she uses, and that she wants to stop Octung. She warns him against telling anyone of this because, she claims, there are Octunggen spies peppered throughout the Ghenisan military. If he tells anyone, they’ll kill her. Then she lapses back into a coma.
After an attack by an Octunggen submarine, Avery is working on the Executive Officer, Commander Hambry, in the medical bay, when he comes across scars that could only have been inflicted by the last person to be murdered onboard, Avery’s best friend Paul. Hambry is the killer. Avery knows this but has no way to truly prove it, so he follows Hambry when the X.O. goes outside in a storm and finds the X.O. about to toss a canister containing a message to Octung into the waters, to be retrieved by an Octunggen submarine.
Avery confronts him, they fight, and Avery manages to kill Hambry. Afterward, knowing no one will believe him, he pretends Hambry committed suicide by throwing himself overboard. Hambry’s dying words, however, had indicated that there was a second spy on board.
Enlisting the help of the grizzled whaler Janx, Avery breaks into Hambry’s cabin and searches it, looking for evidence of the second agent. He finds it, too. The other spy is his lover, Captain Sheridan. Shocked, Avery plans to go to the authorities as soon as they reach the mainland, but when they do the evidence is gone.
Again, Avery brings Janx into things, asking the big man to use his criminal connections to have Sheridan followed so that her network can be uncovered and some real evidence found. Meanwhile Avery pretends to have Octunggen sympathies in an effort to convince Sheridan to reveal her plans to him. He’s trying to out-spy a spy.
He is also, during this time, working with doctors and scientists at the ominous Fort Brunt, where Patient X is being studied and treated. One night when all the other doctors are gone, she reveals to Avery that she’s been awake for some time, waiting to get him alone. Since he didn’t betray her last time, she trusts him, as much as she can, and needs his help. Her name is Layanna and she wants to stop Octung—stop the entire war—and possibly save the world. She won’t tell him anything else, though, but wants him to get her out of Fort Brunt, a military hospital, where she is essentially a prisoner. He thinks about it. Can he trust her?
While spying on Sheridan, he uncovers a critical piece of information when she meets with her spymaster Gaescruhd. Gaescruhd tells her that one of the Black Sect is near and to be on the lookout. The Black Sect are rebel members of the Collossum, the gods worshipped by Octung. He describes this member of the Black Sect, and Avery realizes that it’s Layanna. She’s a god of Octung! Suddenly he realizes she might just be telling the truth when she said she could stop Octung. She’s powerful, if nothing else, and not human. What’s more, as a member of the Black Sect, she truly is an enemy of Octung.
Gaescruhd orders Sheridan to kill Layanna. Panicked—the only hope of stopping Octung is about to be murdered--Avery enlists Janx’s help and breaks Layanna out. The whaler’s underworld cronies help, among them Hildra, a young woman with a hook for a hand and a pet monkey. Sheridan, an admiral now, heads up the hunt for them and leads an assault on them at Janx’s apartment.
Layanna, awake and with her powers gathered to her once more, repels the troops, at the same time showing Avery and the others in the band just what she really is—inhuman and terrifying. In her other-self, she possesses tentacles and pseudopods and is altogether a horror from another dimension.
After they escape, she tells them that her plan is to rendezvous with others in the Black Sect in the mountains. Once together, they will journey to Lusterqal, the capital of Octung, and assemble the “Device” they went so far to learn how to build. Once assembled, this so-called Device will render Octung’s extradimensional weapons impotent and will allow the enemies of Octung to rise up against them, halt the march of war and throw the Octunggen back. If they can complete and activate the Device, they can stop the war.
All Avery and the others have to do is get Layanna to her friends in the Black Sect and they can do the rest. Thus they journey into the mountains, Sheridan and an entire army on their heels.
BOOK TWO
They reach the place where the other Black Secters are supposed to meet, but it’s a trap orchestrated by the vile Uthua, a Collossum who had pretended to break away from the others in the Great Temple but who really still serves the Great Elders. He kills one of the members of Janx’s crew. Avery manages to critically wound Uthua, but Uthua then captures Muirblaag, a great fish-man and Janx’s best friend. Muirblaag stays behind while Avery, Janx, Hildra and Layanna flee in a dirigible.
Their only hope is to reach Cuithril, an all-but-mythical city underground. There will be a functioning altar there through which Layanna can send the plans for the Device to her cohorts in Lusterqal. Unfortunately Cuithril lies on the other city of a war zone. Octung is invading and defeating the mountainous country of Ungraessot, land of the God-Emperor, and Cuithril is deep inside Ungraessot.
Along their journey, Layanna reveals more about her people, including that they are responsible for the Atomic Sea. Known as the R’loth (those of the R’loth who have taken human form are called the Collossum), they dwell beneath the sea and hail from another set of dimensions, which they fled after the rise of the dreaded Muug. The R’loth want to transform the world into a reflection of their own reality and turn all humans into slaves and food. They’ve been using Octung as their puppets to this end.
Avery and the others manage to meet the God-Emperor of Ungraessot and gain access to the Hallowed Halls, which lead to Cuithril, but before they do Avery encounters Sheridan. She reveals that Anissa, his nine-year-old daughter who died four years ago along with his wife Mari, has been revived and restored to life by a secret new scientific process, and that Sheridan will give Ani back to Avery if only he’ll deliver Layanna into the hands of Octung, whom Sheridan is openly working for now.
Avery refuses but in his mind he’s unsure. Meanwhile he and Layanna become lovers. The band reaches Cuithril only to find that Uthua has arrived before them. The evil Collossum has possessed the body of Muirblaag and co-opted the temple and its priesthood, thus making it all but impossible for Avery and the others to reach the altar inside the temple. Yet they sneak in, send off the plans amidst a great battle, and escape.
Unfortunately, in sending the plans to the surviving members of the Black Sect in Lusterqal, they allowed the Collossum to trace the connection and locate the Black Sect, which had been in hiding. Now the members of the Black Sect are dying, hit by an otherworldly weapon during the attack that followed. They might be able to begin building the Device, but it will be up to Layanna to complete it and to activate it.
Avery and the others agree to accompany her to Lusterqal, into the very heart of Octung.
BOOK THREE
They arrive in Lusterqal only to be confronted by Sartrand, another Collossum, apparently rogue and no longer serving the Elders that rule the Collossum and all R’loth. Layanna believes him to be a Muugist. The reason the
R’loth had to escape their own set of dimensions was because of the awful beings known as the Muug, mighty god-things dredged up from a nightmarish abyss. Some of the R’loth worship the Muug, and it is feared that some of these Muugists managed to infiltrate those who fled their home set of dimensions to this world.
Whoever Sartrand serves, he gives Layanna a way to summon him and his allies, presumably other Muugists, if they need help. He wants the Device for himself, though he doesn’t say why.
Avery and the others arrive at the secret headquarters of the Black Sect to discover, as they feared, that the renegade gods are diseased and dying. The Device isn’t finished and activating it will be arduous, though Avery isn’t told how, not then. He does learn that the Great Temple of the Collossum is summoning all Collossum to it for an urgent meeting about how to end the threat of the Black Sect. The only way to gain access to this meeting is for some infected person to infiltrate the Great Temple and listen in on the gathering.
Avery takes this task upon himself. He eats diseased seafood and becomes infected by the Atomic Sea. His only mutation is some subtle striations across his torso, neck and lower face. He enters the Temple, overhears the plans of the Collossum (as delivered by Uthua, who has become a near-Elder), and escapes, but on the way out he bumps into none other than Sheridan … and Ani. True to her word, the admiral had brought the girl back to life and now she is Ani’s guardian. Seeing Avery, Sheridan sends the girl away.
