Earth Unrelenting (Forgotten Earth Book 2)

by M. R. Forbes

  He held Niobe’s ring up over his head, looking at it. “What did you find, love?” he said to it. “Whatever it was, I hope it’s worth what I’ve been through to hold onto this. And to you.”

  He brought it to his lips and kissed it. Then he put it back in his pocket and closed his eyes. He tried to sleep, but his mind wouldn’t let him. He kept seeing Rhonna face down in the dirt. He kept seeing trife jumping out at him from the shadows, and Sheriff Duke and the plastic star he had clipped to his shirt. He saw Grayson and his daughter, dying in their sleep. He saw Niobe, begging him to save her.

  He got up, pacing back and forth in the small room. He opened the door once to check that the guards were still there. Of course they were. There was nothing for him to do right now except wait, and waiting was the hardest fucking part.

  It was close to evening when the helicopter returned. He knew it was back because he heard shouting from outside. Cheering and whooping. It spread throughout the base until a wave of positive energy was washing through it. He heard the guards outside speaking excitedly.

  It worked. The virus worked. One hundred percent of the trife had died. The nest was gone. The queen dead. They were going to save the world.

  By destroying it.

  Nathan worked to convince himself not to care. James was right. This was their planet, not his. Their life. Their consequences. He had come here to escape the Trust, and then to answer a single burning question. He wasn’t here to protect humankind from the trife, or from men like Tinker. It was none of his business how they handled their problems. James was right about that too. The colonists had fled Earth, settled Proxima, and promptly abandoned their home planet. Proxima command lied to the people about their homeworld. They misled the people so they could all live in ignorant bliss, at the same time they returned here to use the survivors for their own ends. How fucked up was that?

  It wasn’t for him to decide what was right or wrong. It didn’t need to weigh on his conscience. The virus worked. The trife were all going to die. He was going to be safe in Edenrise, finding out what Niobe wanted him to know.

  He felt sorry for Rhonna, and for Hayden, and for anyone else who was a good person and didn’t make it through this alive.

  But it wasn’t his problem. If he kept telling himself that often enough, maybe he would even start to believe it.

  He was sitting on the bed again when James opened the door. The general was out of his armor, wearing a pair of green fatigues instead.

  “Nathan. It worked.”

  “I heard,” Nathan replied. “Congratulations.”

  “I know you don’t agree with it. I don’t expect us always to see eye to eye. I only expect you to be loyal.”

  “Yes, sir. What happens now, sir?”

  “Now we enter Phase Two. Tinker will start producing more of the virus, as well as increasing replication of the delivery vehicles.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “A few weeks? Are you planning on trying to stop us?”

  “No. What am I going to do? You’re really okay with killing off most of humankind?”

  “To finish off the trife? Yes. Tinker says it’s the will of the Others.”

  “Who are the Others?”

  “I’ll let him explain all of that to you.”

  “We’re going to Edenrise then?”

  “That’s why I’m here. I came to get you.”

  “Tinker knows about me?”

  “Not yet. But now that the trials are complete we don’t have to deal with the Trust or Proxima anymore. From now on, we create our own future. A future you can have a major part in.”

  Nathan stood up. “I’m ready when you are.”

  James smiled. “Good.”

  “What about this place?” Nathan asked as they left the room.

  “Fort McGuire? It’ll be broken down. Everything and everyone will be shipped back to Edenrise. We don’t need to hang around here for that.”

  They headed out of the barracks to the airfield. The helicopter was resting next to the Trust’s starship. A pair of soldiers were standing on either side of the Centurion pilot, whose hands were bound.

  “You can’t do this to me,” the pilot said when James approached him. “General Haeri has a deal with Tinker.”

  “The deal is canceled,” James said. “We’re done negotiating with the Trust, and with Proxima.”

  The pilot’s gaze shifted to Nathan. “This man is a murderer. He killed his wife.”

  “I didn’t kill her, you son of a bitch,” Nathan said. “The Trust killed her. Your boss killed her.”

  “Even if that’s true, maybe he had a good reason to?” the pilot said. “Have you ever considered that?”

  “There’s no reason for it. The Trust wants to hold secrets to keep their grip on power. They don’t want anyone knowing they’ve been coming to Earth. And they don’t want anyone having the information they need to stop them from getting what they want. I’m going to find out what they’re hiding, and when I do-”

  “Then what?” the pilot asked. “You’re a wanted fugitive. You’re stuck here on this shithole of a planet.”

  “Enough,” James said. “Get some tape or something to put over the prisoner’s mouth. Nathan, we’re in need of a pilot who can fly a Centurion spacecraft.”

  “Gladly,” Nathan said.

  “I’m sure you don’t need directions? I’ll be along soon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Nathan passed the pilot, walking up the ramp into the ship and making his way to the bridge. General Haeri? He would never have guessed one of the highest ranking officers in Proxima Command was a member of the Trust. It only showed how deep the syndicate’s integration into the Centurion government went.

  One thing he was sure of, the Trust didn’t have a good reason for anything they did. Only reasons that furthered their selfish goals.

  He sat at the pilot’s station, using the control surface to activate the ship and start its systems. The displays lit up, offering him a full view of the area around the craft. He might not know what was on the data chip yet, but once he found out, he would be able to decide what to do next.

  With any luck, he would be able to destroy the Trust and make every last person responsible for Niobe’s death pay.

  Chapter 58

  Nathan found himself growing excited as he vectored the Pulse on an approach to Edenrise, following the directions provided by the city’s flight control. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting from the place, but considering some of the things he had seen that Tinker had built, he figured it was probably pretty impressive.

  James sat in the Captain’s chair behind him, watching the displays. They were at ten-thousand meters in altitude, flying over the clouds that were currently lining the landscape below. Their landing pattern would bring them directly on top of the city, set to do a gentle spiral downward that would carry them around the transmission spire that cast out the energy field. As James had explained, by descending in that way, they were forced to lower the field for as little time as possible.

  Not that the area around Edenrise was dangerous. According to James, the trife had long given up on trying to bypass the shields and enter. But it gave the populace comfort knowing they were protected, and that protection helped fuel Tinker’s power. The people believed in him because he had delivered something they thought impossible, and he was on the precipice of delivering something even more incredible.

  A planet without trife.

  Nathan started executing the descent, guiding the Pulse in its spiral. It felt good to be behind the controls of a starship again. It felt even better to be closing in on the one thing he wanted most. He pressed his hand against the ring, sitting in his breast pocket over his heart. He would have his answers soon.

  They continued dropping, entering the clouds within the first minute. The cover was thick, and wind and rain spattered harmlessly against the craft. At least he didn’t have to worry about being blown out o
f the sky this time. He watched the altitude decrease, bringing up a HUD that showed the data he needed to land the craft without visibility.

  They were nearly on the ground by the time the clouds gave way, opening the world beneath them less than a kilometer from the ground. The first thing Nathan noticed was the water. The ocean spread out as far as he could see to the east. The next thing he saw was the spire, a high, narrow tower whose top had vanished into the clouds, leaving them to twist around it like a ribbon as the descended.

  He marveled as he felt a charge in the air, and then a shimmering wave of blue pushed the world around him out of focus for a moment before stabilizing.

  “The field is back up,” James said. “Don’t leave the flight pattern or we’re all dead.”

  “Roger,” Nathan said.

  His heart was racing. His hands were cold and clammy on the controls. He looked at the display from the camera pointing at the ground.

  Edenrise was a city. A real city. The buildings were intact. Whole and proud. The streets were clean and in one piece, lined with strips of grass and colorful flowers. Vehicles moved through them, shiny and newly restored. People walked from place to place, glancing up at the Pulse as it descended, but reacting as though they had seen it so many times before. Drones crossed the sky beneath them, zipping out and back, circling and keeping an eye on things from above. Boats floated in a nearby harbor, under the protection of the field.

  Compared to what he had seen before, it really was a paradise.

  The landing area was a short distance from the main city, a large field of cement where two more helicopters and another small aircraft were already sitting. As he angled the Pulse toward it, he could see a long, black vehicle was waiting on the tarmac, a pair of soldiers in green fatigues standing on either side of it. They shifted their heads slightly at the starship’s approach, tracking it until it touched down.

  “Welcome to Edenrise, Nathan,” James said, standing up and putting his hand on Nathan’s shoulder.

  For as much as Nathan had wondered about Tinker’s real motives, seeing Edenrise in person made it all seem so much more sincere. Why should people live in squalor and misery because of the trife, when they could have so much more?

  “Impressed yet?” James asked.

  “It’s amazing. Nicer than any of the cities on Proxima.”

  “The whole planet will look like this one day. It’ll take a long time, but you and I will be here to see the start of it.”

  Nathan glanced back. They weren’t immortal, but as replica they could live two or three normal human lifetimes.

  “There’s only one thing I want right now,” he said.

  “You’ll get it.”

  They left the bridge, joining Doc and a few other personnel who had made the trip from Fort McGuire. The cargo hold ramp descended, and James led the group out onto the tarmac.

  “James. There you are.”

  Nathan watched James turn to the left at the bottom of the ramp and disappear from view.

  “Father,” he heard him say. “You did it.”

  “Of course I did,” Tinker replied. “The path has always been clear, James.”

  Nathan reached the bottom of the ramp, turning in the same direction as James so he could get a look at Tinker.

  “Who is this?” he heard Tinker say, followed by a stern, “James, what did you do?”

  James was standing in front of Tinker, blocking him from view. “Father, I know you wanted me to kill Nathan Stacker. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t stand there and look him in the eye and see myself and put a bullet in his head. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry?” Tinker said, voice rising. “You’re sorry?” He paused. Then he started laughing. “You’re sorry. No. What you are is lucky. If you had brought him here and the trial hadn’t been a success, then you would be sorry. Nathan Stacker. Come over here.”

  Nathan stepped forward and shifted to get around James. He didn’t see Tinker at first because he was looking too high.

  “Down here, Nate,” Tinker said.

  Nathan looked down in surprise. Tinker was resting in a powered wheelchair. He was old and withered, wrinkled and dark. A few wisps of hair played on his spotted head, and his hand shook as he lifted it.

  “A pleasure,” Tinker said. “Or not. That has yet to be determined.”

  Nathan took his hand, careful not to squeeze too hard. Tinker felt frail in his grip, like the slightest pressure would break him.

  “You lied to me, James,” Tinker said, letting go of Nathan’s hand. “You told me he was dead.”

  “I never said that,” James replied.

  “I see. Is that how it is?”

  “Father, I-”

  “Forget it.” Tinker looked at Nathan again. “Nathan Stacker.” He clucked his tongue. “Well, I’m sure we can use someone with your skillset somewhere. James wants to keep you, so I guess he has something in mind.”

  “I do,” James said.

  “What about the Spacer?” Tinker asked. “The one that was giving you trouble? You got him stashed in that spaceship there too?”

  “No. Sheriff is dead. The Trust’s soldiers are dead. Nobody on Proxima ever has to know Nathan isn’t.”

  Tinker laughed in a wheezing cackle. “I like the sound of that. Fucking Trust. Well, I just wanted to be out here to greet you when you came back. I’m throwing a victory party tonight. I expect you to be there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You too, Nathan. You can borrow one of James uniforms. It should fit.” He laughed again.

  “Thank you, sir,” Nathan said.

  Tinker was already on the move, rolling over to Doc. He said something to her, taking her hand and kissing it.

  “Well, Nathan,” James said. “It looks like you’re part of the family.”

  “Just like that?”

  “He likes you. Probably because you remind him of me.”

  “I didn’t get the impression he likes you all that much.”

  “That’s just how he is. Always the hardest on his children. Do you want to go see what’s on that data chip of yours?”

  Chapter 59

  “This is Tinker’s office,” James said, at the same time he reached over and flipped a switch on the wall, turning on the lights.

  Nathan looked around the room. It was decorated in dark wood. A deep burgundy rug graced the floor, while an old mahogany desk with a display on top sat in front of a dark leather chair. Bookshelves lined the two walls flanking them, and there was a small area in the corner arranged with glasses and a decanter, all currently empty. A smell Nathan didn’t recognize filled the room, warm and earthy.

  It was the most finely appointed room he had seen so far, in a building that was in better shape than anything else he had seen on Earth outside of Edenrise. Traveling through the city on the way here had made Nathan feel like Tinker had somehow been able to rewind time to the months before the trife ever arrived. Everything was intact. All of the damage had been repaired. And because the trife couldn’t get in through the energy shield and the energy shield was powered by a military-grade thousand-year fusion reactor, it was going to stay that way for a long time.

  “He won’t mind us being in here?” Nathan asked.

  “He might mind if he were around,” James said. “Probably not. It doesn’t matter. I made you a promise, and I’ve always intended to keep it. I know for a fact Tinker has an updated data reader in here. The Trust sent it to him so they could pass him encrypted messages.”

  He walked over to the desk and turned the display around to face them. He leaned over and retrieved a control surface from a drawer on the other side. The surface was long and narrow and had a card reader built into the thin front.

  James ran his hand over it, turning on the display. He tapped on it, entering a password to unlock the terminal.

  “You know Tinker’s password?” Nathan asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I? He trusts me.”

  “You
know,” Nathan said. “Even after everything, I wasn’t convinced you were going to follow through and let me do this.”

  “I don’t claim to be a good man. But my word is.” He held up the control panel. “You have the chip?”

  Nathan dug out the ring. His hands were shaking with anticipation, making it challenging for him to grip it and leverage the diamond out. It fell onto the floor, but there was no rush to retrieve it. He dropped the chip into his shaky hands.

  “Whatever it says, I’m with you brother,” James said.

  Nathan looked at him. He didn’t need James to know he had no intention of trusting him. The Liberators were a means to an end. A way to survive and to discover Niobe’s secret.

  Whatever it said, whatever the secret was, he would base his next steps on that alone.

  He pushed the chip into the reader. A small spinning sphere appeared on the terminal for a few seconds. His heart raced. His hands shook. He was cold and nervous.

  A small overlay appeared on the display.

  ENTER PASSWORD.

  Nathan looked down at the control surface. There were keys displayed on it, and he typed each one carefully in turn.

  REALLOVENEVERDIES.

  He submitted the text, and another sphere appeared. He glanced over at James, who looked almost as nervous as he felt.

  The screen went dark. A moment later, symbols began streaming down it from the top, line after line after line. They poured across the display, sinking to the bottom like rain until the entire screen was filled with them. Nathan leaned in, trying to read the text as it flowed. It took him a few seconds to realize the symbols weren’t letters. It was no alphabet he had ever seen before.

  He stared at it, the lines continuing to shift and change as they ran down the display. It was as though the symbols were alive.

  “What is it?” James asked, looking at the display with him.