Oblivion: The Complete Series (Books 1-9)

by Joshua James

  “You do,” agreed Rollins. “But first…” He stepped off the rocky outcropping, in the opposite direction of the Herald Stone.

  Lee followed Rollins off the rocky outcropping and back out into the desert. In the near distance he saw a door standing alone in the middle of the wastes. It was the same kind of pressurized door that could be found on a dreadnought like the Atlas.

  “Where are we going?” asked Lee.

  “To see where you need to go next,” answered Rollins. Lee was starting to get a bit annoyed at all the vague answers he’d been getting since the alien met him on the beach, but he bit his tongue.

  “And that’s through here?” Lee stood in front of the door. He touched it. It was hot from being under the Archeon sun for who knew how long.

  “It is. Among other things. Unfortunately, this is where I have to leave you.” Rollins held out his hand for Lee to shake.

  “Really? You can’t come with? Why not?”

  “What’s through that door isn’t for me. It’s not a concern for the dead.”

  “But…” Lee looked down at the sand. After raking his mind to come up with a good argument to convince Rollins to come with, he realized that this version of his longtime friend wasn’t created by his own mind. This was what was left of Rollins, the energy that goes on after you die, and he deserved peace.

  Lee shook Rollins’ hand. “You were—are—a great friend, Jake. The best second I’ve ever had, and there’s no one I would rather have covering my back. I don’t think there ever will be.”

  Rollins smiled; it was warm, genuine. “And you were a great friend and an even better captain. It was a true honor to serve under you, sir.”

  “Lee. None of this ‘Captain’ nonsense anymore. Do you see any stars or bars?”

  “Sure I do. It’s who you are, burned onto your soul.”

  “I failed you. I failed all of you. It’s why you’re here and not home with your family. Why don’t you hate me?”

  “How could I hate you? You did the best you could, saved as many lives as you could. Considering the circumstances, I don’t think anyone could have done better.”

  “Kind words, my friend, but hollow ones. The fact of that matter is that my decisions led to you being here, in the Abyss.”

  “I would say that we forgive you, but there’s nothing to forgive. You don’t have to trust me, though. Ask them.” Behind Rollins, more people began to appear, like mirages coming into focus. It was the crew of the Atlas, all of them smiling, happy.

  Lee couldn’t stop himself. His vision blurred. The guilt of his actions had been weighing on him.

  “We all know you did your best.” Rollins placed one arm around Lee’s shoulder. “Because of what you are, deep down, in your soul.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “A hero. Don’t ever forget that.” With that, Rollins faded away. The other dead Atlas crew members followed, waving their hands as if to say their final goodbyes to their beloved captain.

  Lee stood there for a moment. He wiped his eyes and nose, and was shaking. He shook because of the flood of emotion, something he was never good at dealing with, that had just crashed over him. In fact, he was so overwhelmed that he had to brace himself on the weird out-of-place door.

  Once Lee got hold of himself, he took a deep breath and opened the door. It opened to more open space, with a metal walkway that extended out for what looked like miles. Curious to know what was next in this strange place, this Abyss, he entered.

  Immediately upon entering, the door closed behind Lee. When he started walking forward, he noticed the metal walkway kept stretching forward as if to compensate. None of that mattered to him. What caught his attention was what was underneath him.

  Lee looked down, through and past the grated metal walkway under his feet. There he saw a vast lake of black oily liquid. It was the same ooze that the Shapeless came in. Or was it their true form?

  As he kept walking, it became clear to Lee that the lake of oil wouldn’t end. It just kept going and going. Different, seemingly random parts of the lake started to bubble up. Out of those bubbles emerged dripping projectiles, fired up into space.

  “Stop,” ordered Lee as one of the projectiles was about to fly right by his face. And indeed, it stopped.

  When the oil dripped off the projectiles that shot out of the lake, it became clear what they were. They were Herald Stones. That’s when Lee realized what he was looking at, what was underneath him.

  Using his mind, his will, Lee pushed the lake so far back that the planet it was based on became clear. Small, about the size of Earth’s moon, completely covered in an ocean of black oil, the former captain knew he was looking at the Shapeless’ home planet. His only question was…

  “Where?” asked Lee. Suddenly the Shapeless planet flew into the distance. More and more planets passed by, and he realized that he was zooming out from there to where his physical body—his real body—was now. He traced the pathway in his mind, and it was crystal clear. Somehow, he knew now where the Shapeless’ home planet was.

  “Lee?” Lee saw Beverly suddenly appear on the metal walkway in front of him. She looked just as she did the day he fell in love with her: clad in a flower-print sundress.

  “Beverly, is that you? Or are you that alien again?”

  Beverly got close to Lee, so close their torsos touched. He breathed in and smelled her lavender perfume. That familiar warm feeling of affection ran through his body as he pressed his cheek against hers.

  “What do you think? I’m so happy to see you, baby. But afraid of what that means,” Beverly said to Lee as she caressed his back.

  “What?”

  “If you’re here with me, doesn’t that mean you’re dead?” asked Beverly, still embracing her husband.

  “I’m not dead, honey. And unfortunately, I can’t stay.”

  “No, stay here, with me. It’s so beautiful here, but it’s also so lonely. I miss you. I miss our son.”

  “I’m sorry. Really, you have no idea how sorry I am, about so many things. But I can’t stay. I’ve got work to do, out there, in the living world.”

  Lee yelled out in pain as he felt Beverly’s fingers literally dig under his skin, stopping him from breaking their formerly loving embrace. He tried pushing her away, but her grip was tight and was only tightening. It was clear to him that this wasn’t his wife.

  “Let me go!”

  “No! I once offered you a life with your family, but you turned us down. Now, I’m not giving you a choice. You’re going to stay here indefinitely, Mr. Saito.” Beverly’s voice changed to something cold, emotionless, sociopathic. Lee knew who he was dealing with. It was the Pale Man. It wasn’t dead.

  “You can’t keep me here,” retorted Lee calmly. With a newfound confidence in his ability to manipulate the Abyss, he used one hand to push the Pale Man off of him. To his and the monster’s surprise, it was easy. “You can’t stop me.”

  “We offered you heaven, paradise!” yelled the now irate Pale Man. The surroundings around the two started to twist and spin as tensions rose.

  “You offered lies. Here’s my counteroffer. Run, hide, because I’m coming for you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. We’re done here,” said Lee.

  Ben had been in the brig for several hours. He was getting tired. It’d been awhile since he’d had some real sleep. After pulling his hand back off his father’s stasis pod, he lay down on the cell cot and sighed.

  Just as his eyes were starting to close, Ben heard a weird banging noise. At first he wrote it off as the natural moans and groans of a ship that size. The metal expanded and contracted as internal heating fought against the cold of space. Then he heard another bang. This time it was louder, stronger, closer.

  Ben almost fell out of his cot as a third bang came with the sound of the plastic top of the stasis pod hitting the cell floor. He looked over to see his father sitting up straight.

  “Dad?”

  Eight


  The Battle Of Europa, Part Deux

  “Do you think he’s still mad at me?” LeFay asked sarcastically as she stood with Clarissa on the walls around what they’d been told was Scout Base 11. The two of them had been assigned the farthest point out, meaning they’d be the first to contact any incoming enemies. Ada and Tomas were on the innermost wall. Congo was somewhere in the complex, helping with triage.

  “Seems like it,” Clarissa said, spitting out a stim straw and sticking another in her mouth. All the soldiers here had them. LeFay hadn’t taken any when they were offered. She said she didn’t see the point. She’d prefer to fall asleep.

  “Could be worse,” she said.

  “Seriously,” Clarissa sighed. “You need to shut up.” She checked her rifle to make sure her suspicions of receiving the worst weapons in the UEF’s armory weren’t true.

  “At least we’ll get first shot at them.”

  “At who? Our own people?” It’s the AIC coming here, not the Shapeless.”

  “‘Our own people’? They were never my people. Just because I lived there doesn’t mean I owe them anything. Besides, they sure as hell aren’t gonna hesitate to shoot your pretty ass. Better believe that.”

  “I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like—” Clarissa looked up from her gun and saw a dark shape on the horizon. “What’s that?”

  “Looks like the party’s starting a little early.” LeFay slapped her rifle shut and chambered a round.

  “Is it UEF or AIC?” The vehicle was so far away it was hard for Clarissa to tell.

  “Let’s just assume it’s AIC and blow it up.”

  Clarissa looked over at her friend incredulously.

  “What?” LeFay shrugged. “I have a little aggression I need to work out.”

  Things got a little more complicated as LeFay and Clarissa saw that the first vehicle was being chased by a fighter ship. The ship flew low, firing its cannon, trying to disable or destroy its prey.

  Alarms went off on the base as the soldiers saw the two approaching vehicles. Men suddenly started populating the walls, rifles and rocket launchers at the ready.

  “Wait…” LeFay had a feeling that something wasn’t right. She couldn’t reach out wirelessly and access cameras inside the vehicles or their IDs because of the restrictor ring around her neck. But she saw the decals on the first vessel, the one being chased. It was an AIC armored personal transport.

  “Why are they chasing one of their own transports?” asked Clarissa.

  “Contact Darren. Tell his men to let the transport through and shoot down that fighter.” LeFay’s eyes had already zoomed in on the armored personal carrier. Through the front windshield, she saw Tonga behind the wheel. And as if that wasn’t confirmation enough, Wan had emerged from the hatch on top and was firing at the fighter.

  “Holy… is that Wan?” Clarissa couldn’t believe it.

  “Damn right it is. Call him!”

  “HUD, call Werner.” Clarissa stepped away from the wall.

  “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Darren.” LeFay lifted up and aimed her rifle. The computers in her head compensated for wind, distance and velocity. Once she was confident that everything was lined up, she squeezed off two rounds.

  “Make it fast!” Werner snapped to Clarissa.

  “That transport has friendlies in it. We need to let them in.”

  “That’s not happening.”

  “They’re our crew,” said Clarissa.

  “Not my problem. These doors don’t open up for spies or pirates or whoever is in that APC. Sorry, but I can’t do it.”

  LeFay’s two piercing rounds hit their mark. Both bore holes through the engine and caused a fatal mechanical complication. The fighter immediately spun out of control, but the pilot clearly wanted to go down fighting as its cannons shot wildly on its way down to the black soil. A couple of rounds hit the back of the APC and knocked out its navigation.

  The APC came to a screeching stop, losing its magnetic engines, sending it into the soil. That fighter that was following it hit the ground harder and tumbled. It rolled up and over the APC and dragged to a stop just short of the base walls.

  “Hold your fire!” yelled LeFay, even though the soldiers had no reason to listen to her orders.

  Everyone on the walls watched as a flamboyantly-dressed middle-aged Chinese pirate clawed his way out the top of the APC. His head had taken a hit in the crash; a little blood trickled down from his receding hairline. He waved at the base, yelled something that no one heard. Then, without wasting any more time, he reached into the hatch he’d just climbed out of and helped Tonga up and out as well.

  “Who is this?” asked Werner, but not through his HUD.

  LeFay and Clarissa turned in surprise. They were both so concentrated on the shitshow going on outside the walls that neither noticed the commanding officer had joined them.

  “That’s uh, well,” LeFay struggled to answer. “That’s Captain Wan.”

  “Daison Wan? That crazy asshole that calls himself the Golden Lion? He’s still alive?”

  “He’s still alive.” LeFay glanced at Clarissa. “Though to be fair, he doesn’t really call himself that anymore.”

  Just then, Wan’s screams wafted up on the breeze from below. “The Golden Lion demands you open the gates!”

  LeFay cringed. “Not that much.”

  Werner shook his head. “Unbelievable.” He looked over the wall and then back at LeFay. “What the hell is he doing here? And why were the AIC so determined to take him out?”

  “I think the answer to your question isn’t far behind him,” said Clarissa. She was looking in her HUD at a satellite view of the open field outside the base. From what she saw, there was a healthy-sized force not minutes away.

  “What do you…” Werner looked through his HUD. He saw the same thing Clarissa did, though he was a bit more concerned. If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, there were three or four times his number on their way. He gritted his teeth. “Damn.”

  LeFay whistled. “I guess our friend the pirate captain brought the fight with him.”

  “Is this some kind of joke to you?” Werner bit off.

  LeFay watched as Wan and Tonga hurried as fast as they could, limping towards the wall they were stationed on, waving an improvised white flag. “You need to open the gates, let them in.”

  “Not happening. Those gates stay shut and fortified. Sorry, Sarah, but my concern is my men and women, not your rogues’ gallery.” Werner rested his rifle on top the wall and knelt down in a firing position. “Hope you two are ready.”

  As Werner prepared to lay his life on the line fighting rebels on Jupiter’s moon, LeFay and Clarissa racked their minds trying to think of a way to help their friends up onto and over the walls. Neither of them came up with a viable idea. Turned out only the dead knew what to do.

  “What’s that?” Clarissa looked past LeFay at seemingly nothing.

  LeFay followed her gaze. “I don’t see anything.” She paused at the horizon. “Except holy hell, that’s a lot of incoming trouble.”

  She turned back to Clarissa, but now she was looking to her right, seemingly speaking to someone who wasn’t there.

  “Invisible Blake got some ideas for us?” LeFay asked.

  Clarissa looked back at her and blinked. “Cables.”

  LeFay raised her eyebrows. “Could he maybe be more specific?”

  Clarissa saw what Blake was talking about.

  There was a trio of cables hanging off the wall that were being used to hoist up different supplies like ammunition or water. It looked like something enterprising lazy men would do so they wouldn’t have to climb down.

  “There,” Clarissa said as she rushed over to one of the cables with nothing attached. She took out her knife and started cutting. The going was rough at first, since it was metal cable, but her knife was sharp and her determination patient.

  “You and that dead hubby of yours,” LeFay said.

  She didn’t u
nderstand, because she’d never been touched by the melding from the Shapeless like Clarissa. She didn’t understand that once connected to the Abyss, you were always connected to the Abyss. But to be fair, neither did Clarissa.

  “You gonna help me or what?” Clarissa struggled to pull up the heavy severed steel cable by herself. “Some of us don’t have an augmented body.”

  LeFay lifted the cable up with ease, then used her strength to tie it around a hook in the wall. She had no clue about the original purpose of the hook, nor did she question it. The cable was then thrown over the other side of the wall for Wan and Tonga to climb.

  “Are you kidding me?” Werner took a moment from relaying orders through his HUD. “You literally just gave anyone on the other side of the wall a way to climb up them.”

  “Relax, Dare,” LeFay said nonchalantly. “We’ll cut it down once they get up here.”

  “Or we just cut it now and screw the two bastards down there.”

  “Or I shoot you right now and see if your second in command is more reasonable.”

  LeFay gave Werner a death stare as Clarissa continued to do all she could to help Wan and Tonga. She waved her arms in the air, trying to get their attention.

  Wan ran as fast as his banged-up body would let him. Tonga was close behind. He looked back, and past his weapons expert he saw a quickly-approaching legion of AIC soldiers, complete with their own APCs, three spider tanks and a war cannon.

  Part of Wan figured he might as well stop and die without winding himself. If he was going to be killed, why not do so with air in his lungs, sitting on the ground? But the prouder part of his ego urged him to keep going. A lion didn’t die sitting on its ass. Hell, a Golden Lion never dies.

  The AIC war cannon was a vehicle manned by two people. One drove the artillery on wheels. The second was in charge of aiming and firing the huge cannon, loaded with high explosives charges meant to demolish buildings. Or in this case, walls.