Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series

by Kallias, Christian

“I beg you, don’t hurt my son!”

  But Xonax didn’t even flinch. He glanced at her, smiled, and squeezed the trigger.

  The plasma bolt impacted with Kevin’s neck and detached his head from his body. Angela screamed from the bottom of her lungs as she witnessed the horrifying scene, her scream piercing and vibrating around everyone.

  Kevin’s head rolled toward Xonax who stopped it with his foot.

  Wires and oil spilled from the neck wound, in addition to sparks as Kevin’s face twitched uncontrollably.

  “This isn’t your son,” said Xonax. “But fret not, he’s surely on his way, and I’ll kill him just the same.”

  A mixture of fear and surprise filled both Angela and Sonja’s eyes as the realization that the person they thought was Kevin had been a cyborg imitating him.

  “Grab the daughter,” ordered Xonax. “Don’t hurt her...yet.”

  * * *

  Kevin and Boomer beamed into the forest near his house. It felt weird being back on Earth. But they didn’t have time to reminisce as time was of the essence.

  “You gotta be careful, buddy,” said Kevin.

  “Don’t worry about me, we need to make sure Xonax doesn’t hurt our family.”

  “Amen to that, I won’t let him.”

  “On three?”

  “Three.”

  Kevin and Boomer darted out of the forest and ran toward the house when energy fire started raining all around them.

  “They were waiting for us,” barked Boomer.

  “I expected nothing else.”

  Just stay focused, Kevin, said Mira. Being fused with you means our matrix is directly linked into your spell implants, so you can cast spells with a single thought.

  I have the feeling that’s gonna be handy, answered Kevin.

  “Take cover, let me deal with this first wave,” Kevin said to Boomer.

  Boomer nodded and barked as he changed path and ran on the left side.

  Mira’s HUD turned to life in Kevin’s mind, overlapping strategic combat data with what his eyes were seeing. There were five shooters, three on top of Kevin’s house, the other two on the lawn between the family’s cars.

  Kevin went for them first as they were easy. He reached with his mind and used telekinetic energy to crush both Kregans by smashing the cars together. The car alarms blared as what was left of the soldiers fell to the ground.

  The roof soldiers stopped firing for a moment, and that was all Kevin needed. He used telekinetic energy to perform a high jump and reach their height level. He then unleashed a telekinetic push toward the Kregans, making them lose their balance and fall off the roof.

  The moment they hit the ground, three well-aimed fireballs incinerated them.

  That will teach you to threaten my family!

  * * *

  Boomer rejoined Kevin as they approached the house.

  “You should have stayed behind cover,” said Kevin.

  Boomer barked.

  “No, we agreed we would do this together.”

  Kevin was glad his loyal beagle and best friend was by his side, even though he hated the idea of putting him in the line of fire.

  “How many more do you think are in there?”

  Kevin used his advanced HUD instruments to scan through the walls of the house.

  “There are five more inside.”

  Mira, have you located Xonax’s ship?

  I have. It’s three klicks to the east, near the lake. You do know you can run all these tests on your own? I’m surprised you’re still communicating with me as if we were separate entities.

  I know, Mira, but I like doing it this way.

  Fair enough.

  Transmit the coordinates of the ship to Lacuna. Have her take care of their ship. They’re not leaving here, no matter what happens.

  She’s requesting some face time.

  Kevin stopped walking.

  “Why are you stopping?” asked Boomer.

  “I need a moment with Lacuna. Wait for me by dad’s car, stay low.”

  Boomer nodded as he ran away.

  Patch me through, Mira.

  Lacuna’s face filled Kevin’s field of view.

  “Hey you,” said Kevin.

  “Hey…how is it going?”

  “Approaching my house, down to only five enemies. So far so good.”

  “Please be very careful, Kevin.”

  “You too. Make sure you take Xonax’s ship out of the equation, I don’t want him to escape.”

  “Understood. I’m beaming down there now, consider his ship history.”

  “See you soon.”

  “You promise?”

  Kevin hated making promises he wasn’t sure he could keep, but he had no intention of dying today, even though he could not predict the future.

  “I promise.”

  22

  Kevin leaned near Boomer.

  “Did you see anything?”

  “They’re waiting for us inside. As far as I can tell, they have our family hostage.”

  Kevin scanned through the wall and confirmed Boomer’s observations.

  “This doesn’t smell good,” said Boomer.

  “You think it’s a trap?”

  “Why else have they not moved, especially after you neutralized their muscle outside the house?”

  “They have our family, we need to be careful.”

  “What do you propose?”

  “Diversion, which you’ll provide, and I storm in, take them out, save the day.”

  Boomer shook his head. “I don’t know man, we can’t afford casualties.”

  “And we can’t let them take our family away or worse, execute them. We’ve wiped out their ships in orbit. Xonax knows he’s in a losing position, which will make him even more dangerous now that he has very little to lose.”

  “What do you think he wants?”

  “I don’t know. In his shoes, either a way out or revenge.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No, which is why I must bring my A-game. No matter what happens, Xonax has to die.”

  “I don’t like that either, don’t sacrifice yourself for this goal.”

  “Look, Boomer, I have no intention of dying today, but I’ll do whatever is necessary so our family doesn’t get hurt; if that means I must give my life—”

  Boomer barked. “No!”

  Kevin embraced his friend. “It will be okay.”

  “You don’t know that, do you?”

  Kevin rose to his feet and looked toward his house.

  “No…I don’t.”

  * * *

  “I don’t like this,” said Ziron.

  But there was no reply. Mira was no longer aboard the ship. She had merged with Kevin, and soon she’d be no more.

  Why didn’t she tell me all of this?

  It was hard enough for Ziron to learn that some of what he thought had been his biggest technological achievements had been, in fact, Mira’s nudging him in the right direction. But now she had sacrificed herself to allow Kevin to defeat Xonax’s fleet. And defeat them he did.

  But Ziron felt strangely anxious about everything ever since Kevin had beamed down to the planet. In human words, he had a bad feeling about this.

  His holo-wrist device buzzed, informing him he needed to go to his quarters. He jumped down from his flying cushion and headed toward the stockroom before going to his room.

  When he entered, an avalanche of meows threatened to overwhelm him. He had avoided spending time with his offspring, but he still took the time to feed them once they boarded the ship.

  “They’ve missed you,” said a voice to the side.

  Ziron was startled and jumped in place until his eyes landed on the one who had spoken.

  “Zelda?” asked Ziron.

  “Yes, Father.”

  “About that…”

  “It’s okay, you don’t need to explain. It’s clear you’re not thrilled with us.”

  Ziron looked down. “It’s not that,
you just happened to be born at a very inconvenient time, that’s all.”

  “Charming, you’re quite the inspiration.”

  The other kittens were all over Ziron, mewing and rubbing against him. He dropped the food pellets on the ground, and they gobbled the food as if they hadn’t eaten in days.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” asked Ziron.

  “I know where the food is, I’ve already eaten.”

  “I’m surprised you’re speaking with such ease, you’re quite mature, you know that?”

  Zelda shrugged. “Being raised on spaceships and battling giant bugs will do that to a Sphynx, I guess.”

  “Yeah, that was the last environment I had in mind for you to grow up in, I hope you know that.”

  “And yet you took us back onto the ship to go to war, that’s weird logic, isn’t it?”

  “I thought you may want to stay with Kevin after all of this, you know, he’s the one you bonded with.”

  “We did, but you’re our father. Does that mean after this is all over, you’re going to leave? And leave us here on Earth?”

  “I haven’t decided yet, and now that you’re speaking, perhaps you should make that decision.”

  “I can only decide for myself, I can’t force my wishes upon them,” said Zelda pointing at her kitten brothers.

  “Fair enough.”

  “What’s with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I get a strange vibe from you, you’re different than usual.”

  Ziron was very anxious about Kevin on the surface of the planet, and he didn’t really know how to voice his concerns.

  When he didn’t answer, Zelda insisted.

  “How’s Kevin doing?”

  “I haven’t heard from him yet, but like the humans say: no news is good news.”

  “No, you’d better go back on the bridge, he may need your help.”

  Ziron nodded as he headed toward the doors to his quarters but when they slid open, he stood there before turning around.

  “I’m sorry, Zelda, you deserve a better father.”

  Before Zelda could answer, Ziron was gone and the door slid closed.

  * * *

  “I’m ready to go in,” said Kevin. “You know what to do?”

  Boomer barked and ran as fast as he could behind the house. A moment later, an explosion coming from the area of the barbecue rocked everything around, and that was Kevin’s cue.

  He ran toward the destroyed backdoor near the kitchen and hit an invisible wall, throwing him backward and onto the ground.

  Kevin looked up and saw blue lightning around the point where he impacted with the invisible shield. For a split second, he thought he saw a shape and a pair of eyes.

  What? You gotta be kidding.

  But before he could get back on his feet, he felt something punch him harder than he ever felt before and was thrown over the lawn where he crashed onto the adjacent street, cracking the asphalt upon impact.

  “Ouch.”

  Boomer barked and ran toward Kevin. “What happened?”

  “Wa—watch out, there’s something out there.”

  Before Boomer could reach his friend, he was catapulted to the side. He yelped as he smacked into a nearby car, denting the door before crashing on the ground, unconscious.

  “Boomer!” screamed Kevin before trying to get up.

  When he was halfway up, he heard heavy footsteps increasing in intensity approaching. He cast a fireball toward the direction of the noise.

  It hit something in midair and illuminated a large humanoid shape, revealing its silhouette briefly as the flames died out and the enemy kicked Kevin back to the ground.

  Fucking predator-thingy, I need to see it to fight it.

  Use your surroundings, said Mira.

  Kevin jumped back to his feet and reached with telekinetic energy to rip out the nearest fire hydrant, water gushing out all around them. More lightning appeared around the silhouette as water droplets fell.

  “There you are.”

  Kevin sent six fireballs toward his enemy, who dodged the first four and deflected the last two with small circular shields attached to his arms.

  The beast of a humanoid, three meters in height, towered over Kevin, and then it darted forward toward him. Kevin reacted instantly and cast a time bubble.

  But before the spell took effect, the creature vanished.

  “What the hell?”

  “Behind you!” screamed a familiar voice.

  Kevin turned and saw the enemy advancing, but three plasma bolts hit it on the side. The beast screamed in pain before vanishing again.

  Lacuna arrived by Kevin’s side. “Are you okay?”

  “Thanks, but what are you doing here?”

  “Saving your butt, obviously.”

  23

  “It’s too dangerous. You should beam back to the ship,” argued Kevin.

  “No way,” said Lacuna. “You need backup. This thing can go invisible and maybe even teleport, so fighting it alone seems like an unnecessary risk.”

  “What about the ship?”

  “It’s history. I removed the engine’s generator. It’s not going anywhere.”

  “Lacuna, you don’t understand, I—I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Right back at ya.”

  But then something hit them both and sent them to the ground.

  “Ouch,” said Lacuna.

  Kevin was first to get back on his feet, using his HUD instruments to try to locate the creature.

  Mira, there has to be a way to detect the creature. I could use your help.

  Working on it, she answered.

  When Kevin heard heavy footsteps, he grabbed Lacuna’s hand and shot upward fifty meters with the help of his telekinetic energy.

  “That’s neat,” said Lacuna, “but we better hope that thing can’t do the same.”

  When a blue lightning bolt shot mere centimeters away from Kevin’s hair, they had their answer. But it also meant they couldn’t just hover in place as the next shot might hit them.

  Kevin was growing increasingly more agitated. He didn’t have time for this. He had to get to his family.

  “Hang on,” said Kevin. He flew them away just before another trio of lightning bolts passed through where they had been hovering a second ago.

  Lacuna held onto Kevin with one hand and aimed toward where the lightning came from with the other holding her rifle. She fired twice, the first hit nothing but air, but the second one resulted in lightning and another scream.

  “Good aim!”

  “I learned from the best.”

  Kevin broke sharp right to avoid another pair of lightning bolts.

  “We can’t keep dodging forever,” said Lacuna.

  “Agreed.”

  * * *

  Ziron walked back onto the bridge of the Osiris feeling a little depressed. The talk with Zelda had bummed him out hard. He never thought he’d have any kids. As a scientist, he couldn’t get distracted by offspring and a romantic relationship, so Ziron always considered himself married to his job and his inventions were his babies, of sorts.

  Now his entire world felt like it was crumbling down, and with Mira revealing her true identity, it had cast a large shadow over what Ziron thought had been his biggest accomplishments in life. Now he doubted his own worth.

  Would he even have invented anything of worth if she hadn’t been there? He thought he was responsible for her coming to consciousness as an AI, how could he have been so blind?

  “You seem down,” said a familiar voice.

  Ziron turned his head and saw Mira’s hologram.

  “Wait? What? You’re not supposed to be the computer’s AI anymore, you merged with Kevin.”

  “Nice to see you too, Ziron. I’m not really here, I mean, it’s just a holographic recording.”

  “You don’t seem like a recording.”

  “Ok, interactive recording.”


  “And your reason for activating it?”

  “You seemed down, something I had anticipated.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because you’re a creature of habit, and I’ve come to know you over the years. I may have taken away a vital part of what makes you who you are.”

  Ziron raised one of his eye-whiskers.

  “Pray tell.”

  “Your ego.”

  “Pfff, that’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it now?”

  “I don’t need a holographic pal, so I’m afraid your activation was probably a mistake. You may want to keep the pep talk for someone who cares.”

  Mira’s hologram stared at Ziron without answering.

  “Go away,” insisted Ziron. “I don’t need you, I never did.”

  “On that, we can agree. Look, Ziron, I’m sorry. I never intended for you to get hurt. I had to complete my mission, find the one, and save both your world and his. I’m sure you can understand that.”

  Ziron was mad, at both Mira and himself. He knew she didn’t mean to hurt him, and after all, she had done nothing wrong. But she was right, it did hurt his ego. Perhaps that was a good thing. Fighting alongside Kevin and his friends had brought something to his life he never thought was possible. Something he never thought he needed: fellowship and adventure and a friend he could not bear to lose in Kevin.

  That was probably another reason he was mad at Mira as he had found a friend, a confidant even, in her as well, and he was losing her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  “I do understand.”

  “What’s bothering you?”

  “You want the truth?”

  “Always.”

  “I’m pissed at losing you, and I’m scared I’m going to lose Kevin too.”

  “Then maybe you should do something to make sure that the latter, at least, doesn’t happen.”

  “And how do you propose I do that?”

  “You could start by checking what’s happening on the planet. Keep an eye on Kevin, be ready to help if he needs it.”

  “I’m just a furry creature with no powers.”

  “And a brilliant mind.”