Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set)

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “Rip it out? Oh…” I realized I must’ve done that earlier when I’d stumbled out of the room and not even felt it. How could I not feel that?

  As the doctor quietly checked more of my vitals, I started wishing Luxarn had left me on Titan to freeze. Things would’ve been a lot simpler. Instead, my employer, or former employer—I wasn’t sure which yet—was on his way to see me. If he knew the truth about Zhaff, I was dead. If he didn’t, then the army of Cogents I’d seen during my joy walk when I first woke up could likely pry it out of me. Reading people based on their reactions and acute facial twitches was one of their many skills. Either way, I was twenty-or-so-percent less of myself, impotent, and cuffed to a bed far away from the drink I so desperately needed.

  “As I live and breathe,” the familiar voice of my employer uttered. “Malcolm Graves, you really made it.”

  I looked up to see Luxarn Pervenio standing in the doorway, appearing as distinguished as ever. His finely tailored tunic bore the red and black of his corporate empire and hadn’t a crease to be found. He was combed, manicured, shaved, and tidy, but none of that could steal my attention away from his face. Gone was his trademark confidence and voracity. The artificially stretched skin covering his skull finally showed creases, and for the first time, he looked every bit his age.

  As I regarded his weary eyes, all I could see in them was Zhaff. Titan’s icy sand wisped over the Cogent’s crumpled body as his single green eye remained gaping. The gunshots rattled around inside my skull. I winced and turned away.

  “Please, don’t strain yourself,” Luxarn said as he entered the room. My doctor hurried out without having to be told. “By Earth, you cannot imagine how good it is to see you awake again.”

  He sat on the end of my bed, giving me no choice but to regard him. His resemblance to Zhaff was so clear to me now, I don’t know how I ever overlooked their relation. Some collector I was.

  “It’s…” I paused to gather my breath. He appeared an entire solar system away from happy, yet he didn’t seem displeased with me. That meant either he didn’t know the truth, or he was playing me. I had to be careful. “It’s good to see you too, sir.”

  “They did fine work.” He patted my artificial leg, which of course I couldn’t feel, but the foot twitched. “Most cutting-edge piece of cybernetics in all of Sol. Dr. Aurora will have you back up in no time.”

  So he didn’t know the truth. Luxarn was a businessman first and foremost. He wouldn’t waste however many millions of credits my new leg cost if he were going to space me. Only the best for his prized collector.

  “That’s good,” I said. “I’m already getting tired of lying around.”

  “Of course you are,” he said. “It’s not in either of our natures.”

  I smirked and tried to sit up. The restraints impeded me. Luxarn noticed my struggle and freed my aching limbs. I yawned, stretched, and took the opportunity to tap my artificial leg and make sure I wasn’t dreaming. The thing was a marvel—like I was wearing a spaceship on my bottom.

  “What exactly happened down on Titan, sir?” I asked.

  His features hardened. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. What had happened was that I’d chosen my own flesh and blood over his. A hard choice, which I’d make a thousand times over, but not one a man like him would ever pardon. I needed a good lie, and I needed one fast if I didn’t want him spacing me. I hadn’t had much of a chance to think of one while I was out for… how long had it been? Undina orbited Earth and was a long ways from Titan.

  “We took out a bunch of Ringers and got the stolen supplies out, but there were too many,” I rattled off the top of my head. “The last thing I remember is one getting the jump on us.” I took a deep breath. The last component of my self-preserving fib was coming, and it was the hardest part to get out. “Is Zhaff okay?”

  I could tell Luxarn was forcing his lips not to tremble. Showing weakness wasn’t his style. He reached into a pouch on his belt, removed the familiar Cogent eye-lens that allowed Zhaff to see on various light spectrums and enhanced ranges, and slapped it down on the side table right beside me. The center of the yellow-colored glass was gashed just wide enough for a bullet to pass through, the jagged edges stained with dried blood.

  Again, my mind was stricken by Zhaff’s impassive face. The sweaty hand I was using to prop up my body slipped. I squeezed one eye shut and angled the other toward the wall, hoping Luxarn might not notice how thrown I was.

  “They took down my boy, Graves.” The way his voice quavered sent a chill up my spine. “My son.”

  “By Earth…” I feigned shock. Another attempt to glance at Zhaff’s lens yielded similar results. It was like I’d never killed someone before. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “You were supposed to keep him safe.”

  Now it felt like he was playing me again. Trying to get me to admit it. That was probably the easiest way to go. I’d died once already anyway. Instead, a lifetime’s worth of honed survival skills kicked in. I caressed the cold plating of my artificial leg and said, “I had a hard enough time doing that for myself.”

  “Relax, Graves. I don’t blame you. I blame Director Sodervall for not providing an accurate assessment of the Children of Titan situation before I sent you and Zhaff down. Damn me for thinking he could handle it. Now Sodervall is dead too, executed in front of the whole damned solar system!” Luxarn exploded to his feet and slammed his fist on the nearest counter, causing the rack of syringes there to fall and clank across the glossy floor.

  I waited a few seconds for him to relax. “Director Sodervall is dead?” I asked. My cantankerous old handler seemed like he would be around forever, grumbling about Ringer disregard for Pervenio decrees and how things used to be better. “Sir, how the hell long was I out?”

  “Three months. We kept you under during transit and while we installed your new leg. And in that time, everything you accomplished has proven to be for nothing. I’ve nearly lost the entire Ring thanks to that madman.”

  “Sodervall’s a dead madman now?”

  Luxarn’s brow furrowed. “I forgot. You don’t know. After you and Zhaff discovered their hideout at the Darien Quarantine, I dispatched a sizable force to try and eliminate the Children of Titan once and for all. But they were expecting it. Kale Trass blew up—”

  “Trass,” I interrupted. “Why does everyone keep using that name?”

  “You remember the Ringer boy Sodervall accused of being behind the Children of Titan raid on our gas harvester.”

  “Kale Draven? No…Drayton. I thought that was his name?”

  “So did we. After the bastard escaped that poor excuse for a director’s grasp, he commandeered that very same ship and crashed it into the Darien Quarantine. Countless officers died in the blast, and then Kale transmitted a public message claiming that he was a descendant of Darien Trass before executing Sodervall. We were completely unprepared. Kale drove the Ringers into a frenzy. They took over every colony block on Titan, imprisoned any citizen who didn’t escape in time, and stole airships and weapons before turning their sights on Pervenio Station and the rest of the Ring.”

  Luxarn had to sit again to steady himself. I took the opportunity to lift my jaw, which had dropped involuntarily after hearing everything I’d missed. Darien Trass was the brilliant scientist who had dispatched an Ark full of humans before the Meteorite impacted Earth. The descendants of those lucky few lived on Titan for two hundred fifty years before Pervenio Corp orchestrated the Great Reunion between them and those who had survived back on Earth. His family line was supposed to have ended shortly after said reunion brought earthborn germs that left the Ringers reeling and Pervenio Corp in control of Saturn and all its moons. Apparently not.

  “It was a massacre, Graves,” Luxarn continued. “They attacked from within and without. Station defenses put up a fight, but after losing so many at the quarantine, we didn’t last long. I got myself out
along with your body, Zhaff’s, and whatever else I could manage, but most of the Pervenio tech in the station was lost. Now it, along with thousands of captives, are in the hands of Kale Trass. The Ringers are calling the imposter a king, if you can believe that. Every other company with holdings on the Ring was either driven out or remains under constant duress.”

  It was all coming together. The Children of Titan were experts at sleight of hand, as Zhaff and I learned the hard way. They had bombed New London on Earth to cover for stealing medicine to mend their sick. Their attack on the gas harvester known as the Piccolo was used purposefully to get it onto Pervenio Station, where it could then be used as a weapon. Director Sodervall blamed this Kale character and bathed him in scrutiny so that his infamy would be built for him. All of it distracted us from what the Children of Titan really wanted...to lure Luxarn into invading an innocent Ringer quarantine and sparking a revolution united under a Trass.

  “They were playing us at every turn,” I muttered. Only I didn’t say that I was the last piece of the puzzle. The one driven to kill Zhaff and inspire Luxarn’s wrath. The sinking feeling in my chest begged me to come clean, but the survivalist kept fighting.

  Luxarn squeezed his fists until his knuckles went as pale as an offworlder’s; then he exhaled. “I thought I could tame the Ring,” he said. “Blend our two people together so we could create the new epicenter of humanity Earth can no longer be. I gave them purpose.”

  “Some people can’t ever be pleased, sir. They scrape and claw for more, and only once they have everything they thought they wanted do they realize they’ve lost everything else.” It took me until the end of my rant to realize that I wasn’t talking about Ringers at all. Luxarn didn’t notice.

  “Well, they will lose everything,” he bristled. “I won’t sit around while those animals take everything my family worked so hard to build.” He knelt to pick up the rack of syringes he’d knocked over and carefully rearranged it exactly where it had been. “Nobody knows what the Ringers are capable of as well as you, Graves. As soon as we have you up again, we’re going to end the rule of Kale Trass before it begins.”

  And there was the answer to all my questions. Why Luxarn kept me alive and had a leg constructed for me when I should’ve been dead. Corporate collectors don’t get to retire. We work until our bodies give up on us or we’re zipped up in a body bag.

  “Sir, I…”

  He hushed me. “I won’t have any of that. They may have taken your leg, but you’re still every bit the collector you’ve always been. We will reclaim the Ring no matter what it takes, and then, maybe, you can become the director there that Sodervall failed to be. I’ve always taken notice of your knack for the business end of things.”

  “Thank you, sir. You know nobody enjoys a compliment like me; it’s just…”

  “Now,” he tapped my artificial leg, signaling that as far as he was concerned, our conversation had concluded, “I’ve been told not to exhaust you. Rest, Graves. Our retribution is coming.” He stepped out of the room, leaving a handful of possible responses on the tip of my tongue.

  A short time ago, the promise of the credits due to a Pervenio Director would’ve been enough to have me drooling. Sit on my ass, bark orders, and be richer than all the God-forsaken souls in Sol but for a few. It was a dream.

  Presently, however, all I wanted to do was sit on my ass, empty my clouded brain, and sleep. I’d never felt so exhausted in my entire life. The most awkward thing about sacrificing yourself for someone is surviving it. Waking up and realizing you’ve got a second lease on life you never signed up for. If the Church of the Three Messiahs preachers back on Earth are right, and there is some all-powerful being out there watching us, judging us, I think we’d get along. He or she’s got a twisted sense of humor.

  Three

  Kale

  I stood before a viewport in the Darien Uppers, staring out upon the pale, sandy surface of my homeworld that was so like my own skin. The dull glow of the sun barely pierced the thick veil of clouds from an impending storm. The Uppers were once again returned to the near-freezing temperatures my people embraced, but as far as Titan was from the sun, I could still feel the slightest tinge of its warmth through the transparency.

  I had to close my eyes and breathe in the cold air to remind myself I wasn’t dreaming. The din of my people’s celebrations resounding throughout the city’s massive enclosure didn’t help break the illusion.

  With the death of Director Lawrence, the Pervenio presence on the Ring was eradicated. Minus a few officials likely hiding out in small colonies on other moons belonging to other corporations, they now controlled nothing, not even a single room, within the orbit of Saturn.

  So much had changed in the months since we had reclaimed Darien from our Earther oppressors, yet, in addition to the light and temperature, it still felt odd to stand in the Uppers without continually checking over my shoulder for Pervenio security officers or making sure my sanitary mask was drawn tight enough over my mouth and nose. Some of my people still wore them. Even after we’d booted the Earthers and scrubbed every centimeter of the place, they couldn’t break the habit.

  I can’t say I blamed them. The corners of my lips itched just at the thought of being exposed, but I had to set an example. We didn’t have to be afraid anymore. Titan was ours again, just as Darien Trass had always intended. We could live at the top of Darien rather than submerged.

  “Kale,” someone whispered.

  I thrust out my arm. My thin fingers grasped a shirt, and I turned to see my mother, Katrina Drayton. The name Trass came from my dead father’s side. I don’t know why I’d been so on edge. Gareth, my tongueless guardian, always stood by my side, fully armed and armored, although he was so quiet, sometimes I forgot he was there.

  “Sorry,” I muttered.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” my mom replied softly. She tapped my hand to remind me to let go, then sat beside me. “Is everything all right?”

  “Everything’s fine.”

  She leaned closer. Her face was fuller and healthier than it had been in years, but that didn’t mean we were finished. When she was sick before the rebellion, I’d visit her and remember the vibrant woman I’d known my whole life; now it was the opposite. She was a reminder of how far we’d come so fast, from prisoners to our immune systems to free men and women.

  But there still was no missing the subtle lines of exhaustion plaguing the corners of her eyes. We all had them. Revolution wasn’t easy, and even after taking Titan, Pervenio Station, and a handful of other vital facilities throughout the Ring, there was plenty more to be done.

  “I know we don’t have much time these days, but you can talk to me, you know,” she said.

  “Go and revel with the others, Mom. Pervenio is gone.”

  “And yet, here you stand alone. Everything might have changed, but you’re still my son. You’ve been with me since you were smaller than a hand-terminal. I know when something is bothering you.”

  I exhaled. “We depart for Mars tomorrow. I’m too busy to celebrate and too tired of you telling me I shouldn’t go. Or is there something else you came over here to talk about?”

  Her lips pursed in frustration. “And why should you have to? What is the point of having an Earther ambassador if she can’t handle things herself?”

  “She’s not an Earther,” I snapped. She recoiled, but as I took a calming breath, she edged back closer. “They have to know we aren’t afraid.”

  “After all of this, you don’t think they know that?” She gestured toward the rest of the Uppers. It was difficult to ignore. Sure, we’d thoroughly decontaminated the place, but the scars of our revolution weren’t something that could be cleaned. Gone was the luster. Walls were peppered with bullet holes, some torn to pieces. We’d never be able to find every shard of shattered glass from storefronts. Entire areas were discolored from blood stains.

  The residential towers rising toward the lofty ceiling throughout the t
wo-kilometer-long main level of the Uppers remained mostly empty after being plundered. Even though they were now accessible, my people still refused to inhabit them. Stores and markets were ravaged. Rejoicing Titanborn danced and drank upon their ruins. With the Earther credit system eliminated, nothing had yet taken its place. Everybody was equal on our new Titan. No credits to separate stature, no fences profiting off misfortune. It was a new way of life, yet I think Pervenio had kept us in the darkness so long it almost felt wrong to live in the light. It was going to take time.

  “Until I stand in front of their leaders, they’ll continue considering us some trivial rabble-rousers on one of their asteroid colonies,” I said. “They’ll think they can smooth over decades of abuse with a pile of credits or one well-placed collector with a bullet to my head.”

  “I know that. I… I’m only looking out for you, Kale.”

  “You don’t need to anymore.”

  “I’m your mother,” she said sternly. “I always will. I’m only afraid that with the entire solar system gunning for you, you’re walking right into their hands.”

  “They won’t risk their people’s lives by touching me.”

  “And do you plan on holding those poor people here forever?”

  “Poor? Who knows how many of them crushed one of us beneath their boot or withheld fair pay. I’ll keep them here for as long as we need them.”

  “I…” She grimaced. “All I’m saying is maybe not all Earthers are as rational as you think. People died here, Kale. It impacted every one of their wallets and who knows how many clan-families. Any of them could—”

  “Mom,” I interrupted and stood. On top of everything, a growth spurt from after the Piccolo exploded had me towering over her and almost every other Ringer I knew. The way her expression darkened at that moment I think was her finally recognizing that I wasn’t a boy any longer. “Stop worrying. I’ll be fine.”