The Clarke Chronicles Book 1: Escape from Earth

by Robert Boren

  We got behind the man as he walked towards the car, climbing up the steps at the front, holding the door open for us.

  “Wow,” JJ whispered. “Very nineteenth century.”

  I glanced back at the door to see if the man was within earshot. The door had already been closed behind Cyrus, the last person inside.

  “He’s gone, but he might be just outside,” I said. “Where’s your uncle?”

  Nolan glanced at me. “Probably in his private living quarters. It’s the car behind this one.”

  The inside of the car was quite impressive. It was longer and narrower than an Earth rail car, with a desk and a small stove in the back, another small stove in the front, and a long thin table in the middle, wooden chairs on either side. The outside walls were lined with built-in couches, the backs ending at the bottom of the windows, all of which had the shades down. The furniture fabric was a deep red color, the walls natural wood, corners and seams covered by carved moldings. Small electric lights hung from the ceiling, with large light bulbs that looked hand-made. They weren’t on. The room was lit by windows on the roof.

  “Just like I pictured it,” Nolan said.

  The rear door opened, and a man resembling Nolan walked in. He was about the same size and only slightly older, with gray hair and a neatly trimmed beard.

  “Welcome, everybody,” he said in English. “I’m Tac.”

  Nolan rushed to him, the two of them shaking hands with a short embrace.

  “It’s so good to see you, Nolan,” Tac said.

  “I’m very glad to see you too. We have so much catching up to do.”

  “Is this your uncle or your brother?” I asked. “I’m Captain Clarke, by the way.”

  “Heard about you,” Tac said. “I am Nolan’s uncle, but I’m only six years older than him. I was his father’s much younger brother.”

  Nolan made introductions, and we found seats at the table.

  Tac looked at Vermillion. “Well, old friend, I heard you got into a little tussle near Mars.”

  “How do you get your news?” JJ asked.

  “Oh, I have my ways,” Tac said. “It’s limited, though. Why the fight?”

  “Simone used the PA stun capability to murder a bunch of people in Manhattan,” Vermillion said with a grim expression. “One of them was my sister.”

  “Cynthia? No. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “She always liked you,” Vermillion said, on the verge of tears. “She was pretty broken up when you disappeared.”

  “You never told her?” Tac asked.

  “How could I?” Vermillion asked. “The leadership ranks of the Corporation have been under surveillance since Carlson’s time.”

  “Yeah, I don’t miss those damn PA devices of yours. If I was still on Earth I’d remove it.”

  “You don’t have one anymore?” JJ asked.

  “Nah, had it removed before I left. You must have questions about this place. Go ahead and ask them, and then we’ll get started.”

  “Where are we?” Cyrus asked. “Where’s the nearest big city?”

  Tac chuckled. “Let’s use Earth as a point of reference. This country is called Ceroris. The closest comparison I could make on Earth would be Russia—it’s got a huge land mass but much of the country is backwards. My city is called Trattoris. It’s about the size of St. Petersburg.”

  “Is this the dominant country on this world?” I asked.

  Tac chuckled. “Lord no. It’s at about the same level that Russia was in the late nineteenth century.”

  “Where is the dominant country?” JJ asked.

  “Way south of here, on the other side of the equator. A country called Katharis. We just had a small war with them five years ago, but things are peaceful now. I sell a lot of product to them.”

  “What kind of product?” JJ asked.

  “Engines, electric generators, petroleum products, vehicles like the one you came in, and other stuff that’s of the highest technology. I’m the Steve Jobs of Amberis.” He laughed.

  “Mankind would’ve been better off without Jobs,” Nolan said. “His work led to the PA system.”

  “That’s not really fair,” Tac said. “The technical parts of that system have been a great blessing to human kind. It’s the social media part of the system that’s been getting us into trouble for the last couple hundred years.”

  “They work together,” Vermillion said, “I think our problems have more to do with out-of-control leadership than our technology.”

  Tac chuckled. “Says the Chairman of the leading tech company in the Central Authority Zone.”

  “Former leading tech company,” Vermillion said. Him and Tac laughed heartily as the rest of us looked on, not sure what to say.

  “Okay, enough of that,” Tac said. “We don’t need to get into a political debate. Do you have the parts I need for the breeder reactor?”

  “Yes, they’re on the New Jersey,” Vermillion said. “Just give us the coordinates and we’ll get them down to you.”

  “Where the hell can you set up a reactor and not have people asking a bunch of questions?” Deacon asked.

  Tac smiled at him. “When I said Ceroris was like Russia, I wasn’t kidding. The eastern part of the country is a lot like Siberia. We have a plant there already, twelve hundred kilometers from here. That’s where my reactor and the newest fuel refinery is. The rail we’re sitting on right now leads to there, although it’s not quite done. We get as close as we can and then drive the rest of the way in panel trucks like the one you were just in.”

  “How soon can you be up and running?” Vermillion asked.

  “You brought the people I requested, right?” Tac asked.

  “Yep. This is more remote than I described, so we might have to pay them more than originally planned.”

  “No problem,” Tac said. “With the additional engineering and physics help, we should be up and running in less than a month. Once we get rolling, we can produce more output than you’ll need.

  “Well, maybe,” Vermillion said. “The new shields and weapons we’ve developed use a lot more fuel than anything we’ve had before.”

  “Trust me, I’ll supply you with enough. Is our deal still in place, or did the recent Overlords attack change things?”

  “The deal stands, as far as I’m concerned. There’s still a lot of the Samson Corporation in existence. That’s all I’ll say now.”

  “Wait,” Nolan said. “Where are you getting the raw materials?”

  Tac glanced at Vermillion, who shook his head yes.

  “We have large deposits of Boron available,” Tac said, making eye contact with Nolan, shooting him a stand down look.

  “Boron?” Deacon asked. “Where?”

  “It’s located in the same area as my refinery and reactor.”

  I glanced at Nolan, who looked away quickly. JJ kicked me under the table.

  “How are we going to shuttle the fuel up from the surface?” I asked.

  “At first we’ll use the Zephyrus,” Vermillion said.

  “We’ll have to shield a large part of the cargo bay,” Deacon said.

  “I’m working on shielded containers,” Tac said. “I’ll need to chat with you about dimensions, though. Scope out the cargo bay when you get back and make some notes, and then we’ll talk.”

  Deacon looked at me. “I still think we should shield the cargo bay as well, Cappy. If something goes wrong with a container, we’ll have a real bad day.”

  I nodded at him, then looked over at Vermillion and Tac. “I agree with that. We need to talk about it.”

  “No problem,” Vermillion said.

  My PA vibrated in the emergency pattern. “Chairman Vermillion, I’m getting an emergency call from the New Jersey.”

  “Nobody can see in here,” Tac said. “Go ahead and uncover it.”

  I nodded at Vermillion, who shook his head yes, then rolled my sleeve up. It was Tim.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

 
“Sorry to disturb you, Captain. We got some data from the scan that I thought you should know about right away.”

  “What is it?”

  “That huge ship and a dozen Centurion Class ships have settled into an orbit around Earth.”

  { 21 }

  The Nudge

  M y heart pounded as I looked at Tim’s image on my PA. “Are they attacking Earth yet?”

  “Not that we can tell,” Tim said. “It’s a long-range scan, so we might not be able to see that level of detail.”

  “Should we go do something about this?” Cyrus asked.

  “I need to get back to the ship and look at my news alerts,” Nolan said.

  “You can’t get them here?” Vermillion asked.

  “Nope,” Nolan said. “I’ve got to be onboard. That’s where my tokens are.”

  “The Zephyrus or the New Jersey?” I asked.

  “Either. I moved copies of my tokens to the New Jersey when we were traveling here.”

  “Move them to the Tristar as well,” Vermillion said.

  My heart was still pounding. JJ looked at me.

  “Your face is flushed.”

  “Our home is about to come under attack,” I said, my voice trembling with anger.

  “They might not attack, they might just use this to blackmail us into surrender,” Deacon said. “Not that I think we should.”

  Vermillion stood, starting to pace the train car. “Captain Clarke, you’re back in command of the New Jersey and will devise strategy for the other two ships as well.”

  “Thank you, sir,” I said. “JJ, will you check on the status of the Zephyrus upgrades please? You have a line to the techs, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, a worried look on her face as she pushed her sleeve up.

  “Tim, send me coordinates for the placement of the enemy ships, and what is under them at this moment.”

  “Aye, Captain, I’ll get right on it. They’re in geosynchronous orbit, by the way. Already figured that out.”

  “Dammit,” Deacon said. “They’re gonna hit us with railguns again. That orbit will keep them right above the targets.”

  My PA beeped, and I opened the data package.

  “Well?” Nolan asked.

  “I’m not as quick with this stuff as you are, Nolan,” I said, glancing up at him.

  “Then send it to me.”

  I eyed Nolan for a split second, then sent it to him.

  “Thanks, Captain.”

  I nodded, not looking up.

  “The big ship is over New York City,” Nolan said. “There are Centurion ships over the largest cities on the planet. London, Tokyo, Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles, and so on. This is a threat, obviously.”

  “Let’s get back to the Tristar,” I said. “We need to see what their ultimatum is. JJ, you got that data on the Zephyrus?”

  “Half an hour,” she said. “It’ll be ready to go shortly after we get back to the New Jersey.”

  “Thanks,” I said, getting up. We headed out the door to the panel truck. Vermillion hung back a moment to chat with Tac, rushing out to catch up. Tac waved to us out the door and then shut it, as Nolan got into the driver’s seat. We took off for the Tristar, getting there in less than five minutes.

  “Getting better at driving this thing,” I said to Nolan.

  “It’s fun. You should try it. Love the feel of the road.”

  “Yeah, we can feel it all right,” JJ said. “This thing needs padding on the benches back here.”

  The vehicle struggled a little up the hill to the crest of the ridge, but then raced down the other side, Nolan parking over the snowless patch of dirt the vehicle sat on when we landed. Cyrus was out of the back first, talking into his PA. A growing sliver of light appeared as the door opened. We rushed in quickly, Cyrus shutting the ramp behind us.

  “Ward, get us back to the New Jersey,” Cyrus said into his PA.

  “What are you gonna do?” JJ asked, trying to keep up as we headed for the elevator.

  “Fight,” I said. We were up on the bridge in seconds. I got on my PA. “Andrea, get ready to pull the Tristar in with the tractor beam, and plot a course to Earth.”

  “Already working on both, Captain,” Andrea said. “Tim has been showing me the data. Are you in command again?”

  “Afraid so,” I said. “I’m going to put you on the Zephyrus for this operation.”

  “In command?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  Ward punched it, the ship rising towards the New Jersey. The tractor beam grabbed the ship, pulling us in rapidly. The door opened as we got close, and we slipped through, setting down on the same spot we were before. It took a few minutes for the bay to re-pressurize, and then we all rushed to the New Jersey bridge, Nolan leading the way. Vermillion made eye contact with me and nodded towards the small conference room off the bridge, as Nolan logged into his account at the Science Officer’s seat. I followed Vermillion into the conference room and shut the door behind us.

  “Yes sir,” I said.

  “You have a plan?”

  “Jump to our solar system, unload the Zephyrus and the Tristar, and attack,” I said.

  “Have jump solutions set for all three ships, just in case Simone has something we don’t expect.”

  “I was planning on that. I’d like to use Nolan as the science officer on the New Jersey. He’s the best we have.”

  “Good call, also good call putting Andrea in command of the Zephyrus. One other thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t hold back. They didn’t get the message with the non-lethal attacks.”

  “I was hoping you would say that, sir.”

  “Let’s get back out there,” Vermillion said. We went back to the bridge.

  “Izzy and Tim, go back to the Zephyrus,” I said. “You know that ship, and Andrea will need your help. Nolan, you’re staying here.”

  “Who’s going to pilot this beast?” Izzy asked.

  “Have Skip do it,” Andrea said. “He’s the best I had here.”

  “I’ll do that. Who’s a good first mate?”

  “Sondra. I put in a call to her as soon as you said Tim was going to the Zephyrus.”

  “Good, I was hoping she was available,” I said.

  “Where to, Captain?” Nolan asked.

  “Far enough from Earth so we don’t draw attention when we launch the Zephyrus and Tristar, but close enough to be in position in seconds. I’ll work out the details of the attack as we travel.”

  “Got a perfect place in mind,” Nolan said. “Shall I punch it in?”

  “Yeah, it might take Skip a few minutes to get up here.”

  Nolan shot the data from his PA into the pilot’s console, then moved to that station and hit the confirmation, the dizziness striking all of us as we took off.

  Skip came onto the bridge. He was a middle-aged man with red hair, gray at the temples, a little on the chubby side. “Captain Clarke, good to see you.”

  I smiled. “Likewise, Skip. Do you know Nolan?”

  “We’ve met,” he said. “I’ll confer with him about our destination.”

  Sondra came in a few seconds later. “Reporting for duty, sir.” She was a tall, slender Korean woman, with straight black hair pulled into a pony tail.

  “Sondra, thanks for coming up,” I said.

  “What’s going on, sir?” She sat in the first mate’s chair, her brow furrowed.

  “Nolan, did you get the reports?” I asked.

  “Yes sir, already downloaded. Shall I put them on screen?”

  “Please do,” I said.

  “First one is a communication from the Central Authority.”

  “It’ll be a bunch of garbage,” Skip said.

  “Probably,” I said. “Put it up there, Nolan.”

  He nodded, and the document showed on the screen.

  Attention, remaining personnel of the Samson Corporation. Your company has been disbanded and outlawed. Your recent actions a
t our Mars Space Dock will result in your prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including the death penalty. All Samson Corporation assets are now the property of the Central Authority, and must be surrendered immediately. Failure to comply will result in attacks on your home planet Earth. You have forty-eight hours to surrender.

  “About what I expected,” Vermillion said.

  I smiled. “Me too. Nice touch mentioning the death penalty, which was outlawed last I checked.”

  “Our Republic is gone,” JJ said. “That’s the only way they could get away with this.”

  Nolan shook his head. “That’s what the Overlords would like to have us believe, but it hasn’t happened yet, and we need to remember that this message is not available to the general public. I got it because of my Samson Corporation token. The rest of you probably have the message in your inboxes as well.”

  “So this is a back channel threat, huh?” I asked. “Can we reply without giving away our position?”

  Nolan snickered. “I could bounce a reply around so much that they’d never be able to trace it. What do you have in mind? We can’t do anything until we’re out of the wormhole, of course.”

  “Yes we can,” Vermillion said. “We can use the holographic system to send a text message to another transmitter, which can then relay the message.”

  “Holographic system?” Sondra asked.

  “Later,” I said. “I like that idea, and we have a couple hours to kill.”

  “What message would you like to send?” Nolan asked.

  “Well, since this is back channel and the public can’t see it, I think we ought to nudge them a little bit.”

  “Nudge?” Vermillion asked. “What do you mean nudge?”

  “I want to tell them that if they attack Earth, we will respond in kind on Devonia Axxiom.”

  “Attack the Capitol of the Central Authority?” Sondra asked. “I like it.”

  “We don’t have enough ships to do that,” Skip said.

  Nolan flashed a wicked grin. “Actually, we do. We could hit them with our enhanced plasma weapons and our rail guns from all three ships. It would do a lot of damage.”

  “How long would our fuel last if we did that?” I asked.