Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  “Do it!”

  I can’t decipher what Balthazar means as he glares at his father. “Sebastian, they won’t stop until they kill us! Just do it!”

  Putting his hand out to his father, his eyes beg him as Sebastian stares straight ahead. “We can’t risk her.”

  Suddenly, Sebastian places his hand firmly in Balthazar and as soon as their hands touch, a blinding light fills the rear view mirror and the entire rear of the truck. I whip around in time to see all six of the cars bursting into flames as we peel away into the night.

  Once we’re in the city, traffic brings us to a crawl. While New York is known for its traffic, this is not typical. I watch the people on the sidewalks, turning their worried eyes up as the fiery lightning cascades and crawls through the night sky.

  It’s unfathomable that three men could take down ten armed cops and demolish six patrol cars in a matter of seconds. It’s equally unfathomable to know that they killed those men because they couldn’t risk me. I can’t understand it. Can’t understand how they think I can do anything different than what they had just displayed. Hell, if I was in their shoes, I’m not sure I could do what they just did. I glance back at Ezra. He’s looking out the window, biting his nail nervously. No matter how you cut it, Sondian or not, Sebastian, Balthazar and my father just murdered nearly a dozen men with their abilities and I’m not sure I would be able to do the same if it came down to it.

  “It isn’t murder. It’s self-defense.”

  With my mental block in place, Balthazar’s announcement from the front catches me off guard. “The sooner all three of you realize that, the better.”

  Nate’s voice is solemn as he leans his head against the window. “They were human.”

  Sebastian nods, “Yes, and the Sondian fellowship recruited them and made them inhuman.”

  I notice a woman stop with her child in the middle of the sidewalk. The little girl, maybe six years old, looks up and points up at the sky. Her mother barely glances up before she pulls her daughter into the crowd of shuffling people. Her fearful expression and lost eyes as she searches for someone, something, anything to keep them safe from what she doesn’t understand. None of them do. “They don’t have a clue.”

  Sebastian speaks from the front seat. “Right now, it’s better that way. They would only be afraid. Cause more chaos.”

  Defensively, I lean forward in my seat and glare at the back of Sebastian’s head. “You know, not too long ago I was clueless. Now look at me. Why is it you think it is impossible for them to react the same way I did if given the opportunity?

  I run my hand along the nape of my neck where my opportunity rests buried beneath my skin. “Why can’t we offer them the same purpose for their own protection?”

  Sebastian glances back at me for a moment before returning his eyes to the traffic in front of us. “What? Nothing?”

  My comment is meant to provoke. Ezra doesn’t care for it. “Jesca, don’t start.”

  I look over my shoulder at him. “Don’t start? Oh, no! Don’t warn me about starting things. My great uncle and cousin covered that for all of us, isn’t that right?”

  Shooting daggers at the back of their heads, Balthazar suddenly angles around to look at me, unamused. “Who’s to say we haven’t given them that opportunity. The opportunity to right the wrong we have done by giving them a savior.”

  “Balthazar,” Sebastian warns, but he doesn’t stop as he focuses on me.

  “A legacy that has been bestowed upon you, the one who sees their strength when all they see is their own weakness. You see what they can’t see in themselves. The opportunity to evolve and overcome this invasion.”

  I glance between Sebastian and Balthazar. “What are you saying? That you have given them the chance to be implanted?”

  Xander questions, “How is implantation of your copula any different from Michael enforcing the implantation of the Sondian copula.”

  The images of the inhuman faces in Ezra’s files flash before my eyes when Ezra chimes in from behind us. “Our device doesn’t corrupt, it strengthens, unleashes adaptations to save. Not to destroy. At least they’ll have a fighting chance of surviving the hell that’s coming for them.”

  “They would be given the choice to receive the implant or not. The alternative to being implanted is grim with the projections our scientists have been theorizing about the earth’s transition.”

  As Sebastian looks up through the windshield into the sky, his words make me realize that this isn’t a theory they are just tossing around. They are planning to execute this plan to the populous.

  “When?”

  Balthazar glances back at me. “Soon.”

  “Orthomolecular therapy.”

  Sebastian announces a term completely foreign, but Ezra seems to know its meaning.

  “Linus Pauling’s orthomolecular therapy?”

  Balthazar explains as the truck creeps along. “Yes. Sanderson experimented with adding certain elements in excess to the body to achieve the conditions that he wanted within the implanted human beings. Physically stronger, but mentally pliable was his desire. Adjusting trace elements in the body through the Copula was like shooting up these humans intravenously with instant physiological and biological alterations. Trace elements of copper and titanium were increased to achieve the physical capabilities that Michael was seeking. The lack of the necessary amount of zinc within the bodies increased the weakened mental state.”

  Ezra interrupts from behind us. “Unfortunately, the Sondian vision to increase the physical and decrease the mental state turned bad when the vessels started showing mental instability. Insanity. Like the people in the files in Miami.”

  Balthazar adds, “After adjustments were made therapy combinations sourced to the Copula, Sanderson achieved what he wanted.”

  I think of Corinna suddenly. “When they took her, did they give her the optimum combination?”

  I know Balthazar knows who I’m talking about when he nods. “Yes. Corinna was given the most recent generation Copula.”

  I notice Xander drop his gaze from Balthazar. He still feels the guilt of not getting to her fast enough.

  Nate asks, “How long until we have a model of an altered Copula?”

  I don’t expect Sebastian to answer like he does. “We acquired a Sondian Copula through our MIT team about a month ago. They have been dissecting the Copula and the Sondians’ alterations. Just in that short time, we have made modifications to our Copula with the orthomolecular therapy. Monica Leal, Joan Leal’s daughter, is heading the team. For those that are already implanted, modifications are in the trial phase as we speak. Monica took it upon herself to be the first in the experimental trail. So far, she has shown no signs of rejecting the trace elements introduced into her body. She’s only increased her strength, abilities, and improved her overall health. The next voluntary modification will be performed after the intersection. We need all our assets ready for anything it throws at us. The modifications can wait.”

  Nate asks, “How will you insert the trace elements into us?”

  Balthazar answers, “Under the team’s guidance, the modifications will be administered slowly. Like immunizations, it will be an injection directly into the small reservoir we’ll attach to your Copula. The device performs the extended release of the trace elements. Under the team’s guidance, Monica received an increased level of copper and has been introduced to three trace elements intravenously—titanium, boron, and zinc.”

  We all must look stunned as he tells us what they will be inserting into us, so he clarifies.

  “Each of these elements already flows naturally through our bodies in fractional amounts. We are merely increasing the levels already present to help us adapt.”

  “Adapt?”

  “Adapt to the changes our world is about to go through.”

  Balthazar lo
oks up at me through his rear view mirror.

  Balthazar says, “The team chose those elements for specific reasons. Titanium, which is a stimulant in plants, helps with chemical energy production in humans. Boron increases mental alertness, and zinc counteracts the side effects from the heavy increase of copper introduced.”

  “Do you know what we could do for illnesses and diseases with the implantation of humankind? Leukemia could be combated with geranium. Aluminum could prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Selenium … well, the uses for that are endless.”

  It’s a lot to absorb, but I have the gist of it. It’s inevitable our world is changing and the only way survival can happen is if we adapt.

  “Monica Leal. I didn’t know Joan had a daughter,” Ezra comments.

  Sebastian says, “Monica has been a very instrumental part in our fellowship. After her mother died, she engrossed herself in her work.”

  Nate adds, “Joan Leal. She was part of the Japan team you told us about when we were still in the facility, right?”

  In the facility, Ezra told us about a woman, Joan Leal, who led a mission into a huge Sondian cell in Japan. The mission went badly, and Joan destroyed the lab and safe house, taking her down with it. I turn back to Ezra, “Joan was part of the Japan team you told us about in the facility, right?”

  He nods and looks out the side window to watch the primal fear in the eyes of every passing civilian. “We need to offer the implantation sooner than later, Sebastian.”

  Responding quickly, Sebastian says, “We have too much at stake right now, and time is of the essence. An implantation set outside of the fellowship warrants many assets globally. I want to save as many people as possible, but we need to survive beyond this intersection first.”

  I know he’s right. We have to try to save as many lives as we can by controlling this invasion first. We have to bring an end to Sam and all of the executives that are controlling the Sondian fellowship’s decisions.

  Balthazar is able to cut down a side alley and drive down the narrow passage to an open parking garage on the left. We drive down the narrow passage, and then take a left into a parking garage. There are a few sparse cars on the lower level, but Balthazar passes up all of the open spaces as he moves on to the upper level.

  “Who are the other guardians on our team?”

  Ezra’s question strikes me odd since I figured he would have handpicked them.

  Sebastian seems apprehensive as we pull into a parking space on the top level of the garage. “I can’t get a read on any of them.”

  He looks at all of us now. “Can any of you sense anyone?”

  Nate, Xander and I look at each other before I speak up. “Didn’t they know we were coming?”

  He nods as he opens the door and whispers, “They did. That’s the problem.”

  Sebastian warns all of us to keep our block up, which only makes my anxiety worse. The space between us and the door at the edge of the garage is dark with shadows among the flashing fluorescent light. Staying close to one another, we make our way through the metal door and down the stairs, the bags Nate, Xander and I managed to throw into the back of the truck before we were attacked.

  All of us convene at a single doorway as Balthazar unlocks the wooden door. As we all walk into the apartment entry stealthily, the sound of a coffee machine percolating catches our ear and we all look at each other wearily.

  All of a sudden, Nate stops walking and lowers his bag to the ground. Unzipping it, he pulls out a gun with one hand and a magazine in the other. Clicking it into place, Xander nudges him for another piece when I hear footsteps above us. Looking up as I move forward, I feel cold metal touch my arm. Ezra is nudging a gun to me. “Remember what to do?”

  I shiver a little when the cold metal of the gun and magazine touch my palms, but I nod and lock the magazine in place as we move forward through the apartment. No lights on. Thoughts of all of our team laying dead in one of these rooms’ crosses my mind as we move along, our guns held at our chests. My hands are turning cold and numb from the tight grip I have on the metal. Partly from fear of what might come out at us and partly for fear that, I might have to kill whoever does.

  “Jesca?”

  A voice I haven’t heard in months, rings in my head as a single thought. Elicia? What would she be doing here?

  From the upper level, I hear the sound of a door opening and the same voice flow into the space around us. “It’s them!”

  Suddenly, light fills the apartment and the thud of footsteps above coming down the staircase in front of us reveal my best friend followed by faces we haven’t seen since the facility. As soon as I round the corner, I see her face and choke on her name. “Elicia?”

  I can’t get anything out before she rushes me and pulls me into the biggest hug only a best friend can offer. Looking beyond her, I see Jake Tanner descend the steps along with Nick Getty.

  Elicia pulls back enough to hold my face in her hands and look me over. “Did you really think I would miss out on all this action?”

  A light flips on in the loft above us. Luke Walker leans over the balcony with a gun hanging casually from one of his hands. “It’s about time!”

  Jake strolls over to us and shakes Sebastian’s hand, then looks over at Nate still holding his gun. “You going to put that away so I can say hello?”

  Nate shakes his head, clicks the safety on his gun and tucks it in the front of his jeans before shaking his hand and pulling him in for a manly hug.

  Balthazar comments on the greeting with all the guns. “Looks like you were prepared for someone else.”

  Jake looks at Balthazar sideways, his smile quickly fading. Does he not fully trust Balthazar or is it something else?

  Luke calls from the loft as he looks down on us. “Things have been getting too close for comfort here in the city.”

  He glances at Balthazar. “Good to see you again.”

  We don’t have to attempt reading him to know he’s talking about Sondians and the way Luke has addressed Balthazar, it’s apparent they know he’s on board with us.

  All of a sudden, the door next to Elicia and me flies open. Nick Getty is standing in the doorway with aviator goggles on top of his head and the biggest semiautomatic rifle I’ve ever seen in his hands. He shifts the weapon of mass destruction into one hand as he offers me a hug. Unsure how to accept it I do my best as he wraps his arm around me. “Hey baby girl. Missed you!”

  He plants a kiss on my forehead, and then releases me.

  Moving past me he heads straight for Nate and opens his arms wide, gun and all. “Nate! Buddy! I’ve missed you!”

  I look at Sebastian sideways and see his eyes widen as he looks questioningly at Balthazar then Ezra. Yep, that’s Nick, making a scene.

  Nick is talking about his big gun with Nate when I hear Angela Turner’s lighthearted laugh come from above. No sooner I look up, she’s landing in front of me from her perch on the crossbeams above us. As I release her from our quick embrace, she thumbs over her shoulder to Elicia. “You know, your best friend is bad ass!”

  I smile and nod. “Yeah, she’s definitely bad ass.”

  The tension in the room rises suddenly as Nick, Elicia, Ang, Luke, and Jake exchange glances with Xander and Balthazar. Jake is the first to extend his hand to Balthazar then Xander. His eyes are full of sincerity. “Glad to have you on board with us.”

  The greetings of handshakes after that flow easily and I feel the tension release in me knowing that everyone is on the same page.

  Elicia takes my hand and pulls me aside as the others move into the living room. Looking at me, and then glancing at Nate and Xander standing side by side. “Two Sera’s, huh?”

  I roll my eyes sensing what she’s getting at. Dodging her, I add, “Three actually if you include me.”

  She leans closer. “Unrelated of course.”

&
nbsp; I can’t hide the pull of a grin on my lips, but I try to lose it as I notice Nate glance over at me. “Yeah, unrelated.”

  She tugs on my hand and leans close. “Oh boy. We’ll be talking about this later for sure.”

  Noticing Nate, Xander and Ezra watching Elicia’s and my exchange closely, I release her hand and move into the living room with the rest of the group.

  “You said that things have been getting too close for comfort.”

  Jake responds, “It’s been a couple of days since we left the safe house.” He looks at Sebastian cautiously. “Everyone is panicking since the press conference.”

  Xander speaks up. “Press conference?”

  Luke leans against the back of the sofa. “The president held a press conference three days ago.”

  Elicia grunts with frustration. “He proceeded in telling everyone that the United States was taking proper measures to protect the American people.” She puts her head down, shaking her head. Elicia knows as well as I do that the proper measures mean nothing at this point.

  Luke continues, “He didn’t answer many questions. A slew of scientists, generals and higher-ups fielded the heavy questions from the reporters.”

  Angela speaks up, “Many of our guardians were there. They told the public the basics—avoid leaving the house; stockpile water, batteries, and nonperishable food items; listen for local, state and national updates. They tried to defuse the situation.”

  Ezra asks, “What did the others say?”

  I know he’s referring to the Sondian guardians that might have been peppered with ours at the press conference.

  Jake adds, “They played devil’s advocate, of course. They denied that the government has any solid evidence of a galactic intersection and that their counterparts were overreacting and creating unnecessary panic. As soon as our guardians began arguing and defending the theories, the conference feed went dead. That was the last time we heard any updates. The only updates I’ve received so far come from chatter in other cells.”