Journey to a Darker World
By Christian Mathis
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Special thanks to Brandon Croft for listening to hundreds of bad ideas, while still helping me come up with great ones.
Prologue
Collins
THUD. THUD. THUD. The door shook and cracked, finally bursting open with a shudder as the armies of the new world converged at the stronghold. They had one common goal, capturing the man with the death touch, the most dangerous man in the world.
"Colonel Collins, the threat is located on the upper level, how should we proceed?" Voice shaking with excitement and a touch of fear, the soldier stood ready to execute my orders.
"Capture him alive if you can, the President wants to have him questioned." The soldier saluted and assembled his troops to begin the raid. Filing in, checking the room, their footsteps rang through the night.
An agent near me opened a closet. None of us saw the hand reach down to grab his shoulder; he was dead before he hit the floor, body pumped full of cobra venom. Unseen, Catalyst shifted through the shadows, attacking one man after another. A single touch and a trace amount of Bufo toad poison froze a nervous system. Each man received a different poison as if Catalyst were casually toying with them, honing his skills.
I caught a glimpse of him as he crept down the stairs, his athletic silhouette briefly framed in the doorway before he entered the next room. Drawing my gun, I went to the doorway and did a quick look into the room. His red eyes shone across the room, and I blindly squeezed off every round in my gun, finally hearing the thump as his body hit the floor, a heavy dose of tranquilizers coursing through his veins.
Hours later, I slammed shut the door of his specially made tempered glass cell. I had a meeting to get to; it was an important day. For the first time, I was allowed to be a member of the Council. An elite group of former presidents, royalty, and important political and military leaders. The members each led a coalition reporting directly to the leader of the United Nations, Director Alvarez. It was the first meeting after the Restructuring. The world had been divided into five regions; old boundaries were erased and replaced by the North American Coalition, South American Coalition, African Coalition, Europe-Asia Coalition, and the Australian -Arctic Coalition. I took my seat in time for the meeting to start.
The President of the North American Coalition slammed his hands on the metal conference table in frustration. The room grew quiet as everyone took their seats. The Council was gathered in Union City to discuss recent global chaos and how...if...it could be corrected.
"The super-powered extremists must be dealt with before they can rally others to their cause. After the attack on the New Africa Coalition that killed thousands, we need to know what prison can hold them immediately." The President’s cold, black eyes roved the room. Voices rose as delegates began shouting over one another.
“Let us build a prison that can hold them.”
“Let’s set them out to sea; fate will decide what will become of them.”
“If we cannot imprison them then we must kill them “
“I work aboard the shield space station, and we recently discovered a planet which could be habitable.” A clear voice cut across the yelling delegate, and all eyes turned to a woman sitting in the corner, awkwardly picking stuffing from a small hole in her chair. “I suggest we kill two birds with one stone and send the terrorists there. We get to see if the planet will sustain human life and get rid of the prisoners at the same time.” She shrugged with a small smile, “Either way, it benefits us; if they live, we know it’s a potential colony world. If they don’t? Well...then they’re dead.”
A low buzzing sound began to emanate from my chair, low in pitch; it was like the ancient microwaves. I felt my chair start to turn around and face the voting screen. The board had 200 colored squares on it, one at a time they would change either black or gold. Black meant nay, and gold meant yea. I glanced down at the arm of my chair at the two glowing buttons. I ran my fingers through my dark, feeling the severity of my decision. With trembling fingers, I pushed the gold button and sealed the criminals’ fate.
Thunderous applause roared through the building as the watching masses saw the voting screen lit up almost unanimously golden.
An image appeared on the screen of the new planet; it showed against the dark sky as shiny as a brand-new marble. The color was a mix between a dark silver and the chrome color of a ball bearing. A voice emanated from the speakers “This planet appears to be uninhabited by sentient life flourishes in vegetation. Located three light-years beyond the edges of the Milky Way. A ship should be able to reach it in a matter of days with the new prototype the “Mach Infinity.” The computer voice clicked off with a ping
“Any questions concerning the mission or planet, “asked the director.
"Any questions?" asked the Director. "Yes, Col. Collins?" I ran my tongue over-dried lips so that I could speak clearly.
"What do we know about the terrorists and their powers?" The computer began to buzz, and rumble, images began to flash on the screen.
Name: Catalyst aka none
Hair: black
Eyes: grey, dark red when powers are used.
Height: 5’10”
Country of origin: North America Coalition
Abilities: poison creation can create any poison or toxin from any animal. Usually, it can only pass poison through touch and can also throw disease spores through the air.
Name: Raymond Clifford, aka Kinetic
Hair: Blond
Height 5’0”
Eyes: blue
Country of origin: Europe -Asia Coalition
Ability: energy conversion, kinetic to potential from any source
Name: James Whitlock aka Blood clot
Hair: none
Height: 6’8”
Eyes: brown
Country of origin: African coalition
Ability: utilizes the trace amounts of iron in his blood to create weapons, can cause his blood to coagulate, not effective on any other blood source
Name: Tonihvio Velasquez aka Warlord
Height: 5’11
Eyes: dark brown
Country of origin: South American coalition
Ability: complete photogenic recall of every battle or skirmish ever fought in human history.
Name: Annabel Bishop
Height: 5’6”
Hair: dark blonde
Eyes: brown
Country of origin: North American coalition
Abilities: unknown
The screen dimmed and shut off; the director stood up and spoke. “We will start finalizing plans first thing in the morning
A week had passed, the Mach Infinity was undergoing final trials, and as I passed the hangar towards the cell block, I heard the NAC President's voice.
"It's a new planet, rich in resources and minerals. We don't know if it's inhabited or safe for humans; with your extra abilities you can establish the first contact." His voice was oily, trying too hard to be convincing. "You could be true heroes.
Catalyst looked at him, angry and agitated.
“The only way we do this if we all get full pardons and we get to be left alone when we return.”
The President gave a sly smirk.
“Deal, you will all be forgiven of your crimes on your return to earth “
I watched in anticipation; my fingers drummed against the hot metal bleachers. Catalyst and the rest of the crew climbed aboard the Mach infinity. The pitch-black spaceship was a prototype; it was a super-advanced remodel of the space shuttle the major difference Was the rocket boosters were built into the hull. It was able to shoot off like a rocket once in the atmosphere wings would r
elease from the sides, and it would resemble a giant jet with supersonic engines were fast enough to jump light-years in a matter of hours.
The ship’s door closed, and all personnel vacated the platform and runway. The heat of the massive engines burned against my skin. They began to lift off the ship bellowing noise loud and strong enough to shake the bleachers I sat on the flames burning a bright green and purple, I felt the ground shaking like an earthquake. The sky lit up with a blinding hot red light, and with a blink it was gone, and everything went quiet. The convicts barreled toward the distant planet at over four hundred times the speed of light.
Chapter One
“CATALYST, WAKE UP! James shook me awake. “Dude, I think we should check out the rest of the ship before we get to the planet,” said James.
“Yeah, that is probably a good idea, man.” I scanned the room took in my surroundings, besides James the mountain-sized man. All around the sleeping quarters, people were stirring. We'd been told before the launch that it was natural to pass out from the shock of traveling at such an incredible speed. They hadn't bothered to tell us that it would leave us feeling drunk and disoriented. I dashed across the room and caught him before his head hit the table. The first thing I noticed about him was his long sandy blonde hair, thin face and blue eyes that could light a room.
Raymond was still out of it, and when he spoke, his speech was slurred, and his eyes struggled to stay in one place. “Hey fuck off dude, Don’t act like you did a lot, I would have fallen two feet. I will try not to get in the way of you patting yourself on the back. The name is Raymond; my friends call me Ray. So, you can call me Raymond.
I paused before I answered him, “My name is Catalyst because of what I can do. I don’t go by my real name anymore.”
Raymond stroked his hand over his chin before speaking, “what exactly can you do?”
“I can create toxins or venoms, usually only animal poisons like snakes or spiders, any animal which can poison I can mimic its poison, most times I have to be touching the person to poison them. Although recently I discovered I could throw disease spores from a distance.”
Ray looked startled,” Damn man, how many people did you kill before you could control your powers.”
I paused before answering, “176 people died before I could control the amount of poison I administer.”
“Well on that ominous note, I am Annabelle, I don’t really have any Powers I think the president of the NAC sent me away because I was building a Militia, we were going to start a revolution,” A feminine voice said from the corner.
She sauntered over to me, a smirk on her lips. Flipping long blonde hair over her shoulder, her grey eyes stared up at me through long lashes. I got the feeling she was much more dangerous than she was letting on.
"James grunted the man who had woken me, standing and stretching, we all watched the muscles roll along his massive arms." I can coagulate blood. Mine, specifically. Turn it into weapons."
Rip, crack. The tall man with bronze-colored skin, long dark hair and a pointed goatee had ripped his seat open and taken the metal support bars out, as he spoke, he attempted to sharpen it into a weapon.
“The name is Tonihio Velasquez; you can call me Toni, I have uncanny recall of any battle or war in history, ever tactic, ever strategy, outcome, first-person accounts as if I was there myself.”
James started to wholeheartedly laugh, “Bro that’s not a power. That’s what history books are for.”
Whoosh, thunk, a makeshift blade whizzed through and wedged itself deep into the wall inches behind James' right ear.
“Alright you can throw a knife, can you fight, he dislodged the knife and made a small deep cut on his left arm, blood dripped into his right hand. it hardened into a dagger, and James shot it through the air towards Toni’s head.
BOOM, BOOM, suddenly, I was picked up and slammed into the wall, the ship turned and flipped and became inverted as we entered the foreign atmosphere, an incredibly loud series of pops as we slowed from light speed to the speed of sound.
The ship hit the ground with a heavy thud and bounced back up. The crew got tossed around like weightless rag dolls. The ship dragged along the ground with back-breaking jerking and shaking, we screeched to a halt. We stopped, and the silence burned in my ear.
“Uhh Uhh, a voice moaned from the darkness.”
I managed to pull myself up to my knees and see who was moaning.
“Damn Toni, are you ok?”
He had a deep gouge in his forearm and blood ran down his arm and dripped to the floor, I took a seat cover off and wrapped it around his arm, then pulled it tight. I scanned the cabin to see if anyone else was Hurt.
“AHHHHHHH WHAT THE HELL!!!”
Ray screamed, I looked down on the floor and saw Ray’s detached bloody finger on the floor of the cabin. His blood spurted on to the floor. Anabelle let out a loud huff.
“Uh damn man, you don’t have to cry like a bitch; it will be alright. I once knew a guy with only two fingers on each hand.”
I waited for a response from Ray, except one did not come. He was entranced with his stump.
James hurried over and placed his hand over Raymond’s wounded hands. After a few moments, he pulled his hands away, the stumps of Ray's fingers had been cauterized through James mixed his blood and coagulating Rays.
“See, my powers don’t suck. I cannot heal; recently I learned I could stop the bleeding by hardening the blood.”
“Well now that the mayhem is done maybe we should check out the ship and see if the government gave us any supplies, besides we have an entire planet to explore “
“Why the hell would we leave the ship? The ship crashed on this planet. All we know about it is what they have told us. Which is probably only lies. We need to stay on the ship as long as we can before some giant ass bug or something eat us,” said Toni.
I stroked my chin, “Toni, I get what you’re saying, and I respect your military knowledge, I think we should take our supplies and explore. After all, the whole reason we were sent here was to see if the planet was habitable.”
Ray ran his finger over the hardened blood on his hand. “Who put you in charge, dark and gruesome?”
Annabelle pulled herself onto the control panel and sat down. She ran her fingers along her scalp and pulled out a small metal file that was hidden in her hair before tossing it to Toni.
“the only way to decide who should lead is to vote.”
“Or we could fight, to the victor go the spoils,” said Toni.
My hands slid past each other, and I brought my index fingers to my lips. “Toni, I promise if we fight the only thing that will be spoiling is your corpse.”
“Damn dude, I think we should follow Catalyst, not before grabbing the supplies,” said James. The ship had narrow hallways; we were forced to walk in a straight line. Everyone spent more time checking on the others with a sideway glance then walking. When we reached the storage hold; dozens of crates lined the wall. Crack.
“What the fuck is this. What the actual hell IS THIS!” said James. He shattered a crate against the wall. The only thing that was left was a scrap of paper. On it was only one word. GOTCHA.
Toni picked up an empty crate and hurled it at my head.
“So much for your deal with the President, the son of a bitch banished us, exiled us, and sent us to die.”
I thought about how stupid we had all been; they didn’t want us to be heroes, they wanted us to get here and die or live and not be able to come back, I knew I had to stay positive. Maybe we could do it, live on this God-forsaken planet, or better yet get off.
Ray and Toni looked furious when they spoke hard and angry.
Raymond walked over to me and shoved me, knocking me back and onto the floor.
“This is all your fault! You agreed to come along. You’re a bad guy. I’m the bad guy. We’re all criminals, and you thought we could be heroes. IT’S YOUR FAULT WE’RE STUCK HERE!”
He took a swing
at me and hit me square in the jaw. A small amount of blood trickled down my face. I wiped it off with my fingers.
“Look I’m sorry you think I got us stuck here if I hadn’t agreed to go, we would have been forced anyway, I will do everything I can to get us home.”
I had not seen Toni slip behind me, and he punched me in the side, I felt the hit in my kidney, I fell to my knees. I grabbed Toni’s forearm and gave him a dose of the blue-capped ifrit a bird whose poison causes numbness, and he fell to the ground. The poison would turn his whole body numb as if a painful pins and needles were on every inch of his body
James stepped forward, clenched his fist, and screamed, “Now that is enough, we are not going to fight anymore!”
We searched the room for an hour, and the only thing we found was a few apples and a five-gallon jug of water. We held out for a week and then were forced to leave when we ran out of supplies.
The crew gathered around the outer door; we pulled on our suits, which were specially made for deep space journey capable of withstanding immense pressure and infused with an oxygen rebreather so that we could venture far from the ship without dying.
“What if there are people or creatures out there what will we use for weapons, we all can’t make weapons from thin air like Sampson over here?” asked Ray. He still held his hand where his fingers used to be, stroking his chin as he always does.
Sssssssssshhhhhh “With these,” Toni Said, dragging makeshift blades from things from the cabin, a sword from a chair arm, daggers from a crate.
“This one’s for your big bro,”
He slid a homemade mace to James, made from a rod from an arm handle, and giant nails and screws formed the spikes.
Cuuwaaaaaswoosh the massive door opened, letting out the stale cabin air with a burst of steam, we shuffled forward, and I was the first down the steep steps. I was hesitant when I stepped off the stairs and onto the planet’s surface, my footprint kicked up a cloud of black soot after everyone had stepped onto the ground.
“This is incredible,” I said.
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