Terranus: Origins: Book one of the 'Terranus' series. Read online

  The ceiling exploded in a bout of action as the bay was exposed to the empty vacuum of space. Glaring towards the breach, Sean saw what he guessed were the nautiluses of the limb stopping the bay from suffering from an explosive decompression. Taking this as a hint, he rushed to slide his other arm into the suit and zip it up, grabbing a helmet from next to him he slammed it onto his head. With a snap, one of the atmospheric locks of the helmet was in place. The limb moved from the breach and in a sudden movement every loose item in the bay rushed towards the hull breach in an uncoordinated mess. He was no different as he was pulled towards the fissure. His head slammed into a loose fire extinguisher that knocked him into an uncontrolled spiral. Trying to stabilise his spin, he fired the suit's thrusters. The left jet started to push out some semblance of thrust, but the other failed instantly, and with only one thruster active his spiral intensified as he lost control. After a couple of helpless moments, he cleared the ship’s breach. He frantically slammed the buttons on his suit until finally the second thruster kicked into life to provide a little solace to his situation.

  “Thank fuck for that,” he coughed as he spiralled through empty space. Warning lights flashed on the inside of his helmet, suit breach, low oxygen. He patted about his suit in a panic, trying to find the hole and plug it with a finger as a quick fix, “This is how I go... isn’t it,” he mused. Turning towards the Arrakis, he bore witness to the tendril releasing the hulking ship, debris escaped quickly into space and scattered in every direction as primary and secondary explosions zipped along the outer hull. He glanced around, resigned to his own fate as he saw the entire fleet faltering to the onslaught from the new ships.

  Just has he began to fade into an oxygen deprived slumber, space cracked in two as slip space tears formed beside Earth, releasing a bright blue explosion that spread out from the ingress point. Not more, he thought before something occurred to him, why was the slip tear a different colour? With this, he faded away, spiralling into the nothingness that engulfed him…

  Chapter 3

  Fading in and out of consciousness, Sean didn’t know if he was hallucinating, suffering from oxygen deprivation or had just gone crazy with his exposure to space. But what he saw could not be right. The Terran race was on the brink of obliteration by an alien invasion force that slipped into Sol, but he saw something, clear as day, leaving the fresh slip tear. His eyelids felt heavy as he blinked, his entire world went dark and returned as he tried to focus. These… objects, they looked sleek in design, almost pointlessly aerodynamic, two large wings extended upwards from their rear, like spoilers on an Earth car. I’m absolutely seeing things he laughed as his mind clouded. Blinking again it took all his will to not fade away, one… two… five… ten, they keep on coming… he thought as he looked on. Seeing was believing, but in this case, he couldn’t understand or believe what he saw, Earth surely couldn’t be under attack from two unknown entities, they were still reeling from the first attack, scrambling to form a coherent defence. They’re glowing blue! Like a toy I used to have as a kid, he laughed, chuckling away to himself as his oxygen deprived brain failed to comprehend what was happening.

  Without any warning or preamble, the blue build-up on the bow of the ship unleashed a large radiant projectile that streaked towards the aggressors. It closed the distance to the fleet of ships that had taken up positions above Earth at unimaginable speeds as it lanced away. The first ‘bolt’ impacted on the ship’s shields, the craft exploded into a flash of colour but remained unharmed, the second had no such defence standing in its way. Tearing a hole right through the ship, the pure concussive force of the projectile pushed the alien ship’s rear end around as a green liquid poured out from the puncture wound that now tunnelled through the enemy ship. “Whoa! What the fuck,” he shouted, managing a moment of lucidness as he felt the last crumbs of his will flow away from him, he desperately tried to keep his eyes open. The last thing he witnessed was the space between the two forces engulfed in bright blues and reds as unalike weapons discharged. This time, his passing out was final, his body screamed and ached as it tried to conserve as much oxygen as possible.

  * * *

  Am I dead? Sean awoke staring down at himself, the other ‘him’ stood on nothing, in nothing, they were in a void, lacking any of the usual sensations the body would feel for. Sean tried to pat on his own chest but his hand passed right through his floating corporeal body. He looked down again to the imposter that stood below him, he could see his spectre cupping its hands, trying to shout towards an unknown point or person. “What the hell, why are there two of me?” he asked, questioning his own existence and reality, “Am I the real one?”

  His mind grew frantic, but right on cue, the ghost below him was dragged backwards, a bright orange explosion followed in his step. Then there was nothing, no sounds, no visuals to occupy his mind, complete sensory deprivation. A faint warmth filled the air around him, followed by a cooling breeze. Sparking into existence, a fleck of light appeared in front of his face, zipping and darting about like it had a mind of its own. Instinctively, he attempted to swim towards it, swiping deliriously as he tried to capture it. Stopping, the light came to a halt, as if frozen in time. With both hands, he lashed out and grabbed the ball and as soon as he made contact it burned away in his hands, leaving nothing but a puff of smoke.

  “What a pointless exercise” he groaned out loud to no-one. “Hellooo” he shouted, “Is anybody out there?” Tugging at his waist he felt a force grab him, yanking him down into the abyss below. His velocity increased to a point where he could no longer fight against it and with a thud, he slammed into the hard floor of the void.

  Snapping awake and gasping for breath, his body contorted at the midriff as it pushed him up to an arc and smashed him back into whatever he was laying on. His eyes shot open, the lights burning brightly above him forced him to squint. Muscles throughout his body began to seize but his limbs were not able to move naturally as they were held in place with strong restraints. Through his blurred and impacted vision, he saw a grey room, white lights orbited the perimeter with a scattering of small tables and instruments all around him.

  “Where am I?” he screamed once his body had arrested, giving him a moment's respite. A second later, muffled voices rang out beside him, he wasn’t sure if it was him, but it sounded like complete nonsense. The tone was one of worry or panic, although he assumed his hearing was impaired at this point. With no warning, he felt a cold, sharp insertion in his forehead, he let out a piercing scream as he flailed about, attempting to get free from his restraints, his limbs grew tired the more he tried. After a brief resistance, he was once again asleep.

  It was a few hours before he started to stir, again being forced to squint as the bright lights infiltrated his eyes. As the moments passed they adjusted to the luminosity of the room. While he got no feeling from his left limb, his right arm lifted without resistance, I’m unrestrained he thought, excitement and panic rushed through his body. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he felt like a prisoner as he attempted to stand. His legs collapsed under his own weight, he clawed and flailed about as he fell until he got hold of a table. He pulled it down with a loud crash, the metallic instruments that were once neatly laid out on its surface landed harmlessly on top of him as he laid on the floor.

  Sitting on the ground feeling dizzy and hungry, he scanned the room for an exit. He was in the same grey chamber as before; the lights were strips built into the walls above head height that encircled the entire area. The floor was a smooth, white polymer that felt refreshingly warm to the touch. Scattered around were screens that sat flush against the wall, with what appeared to be information displayed on them albeit written in complete gibberish. “Maybe I now speak a different language; I’ve heard of that happening under certain trauma” he mused.

  Pulling himself up he ensured he had a stable footing so his legs didn’t give way, he shuffled over to the nearest terminal, making sure to put his weight on any fi
xed object. The screen looked like it was written in a mixture of Earth Japanese and hieroglyphics. Keying different touch sensitive buttons, a universal beep-beep sounded from the terminal, his access was restricted to anything other than the standard screen. Giving up on the computer, he made his way around the room, feeling the walls for any potential exit as none were obviously apparent. “Let me out of here!” he shouted while slamming his clenched fists against the wall, “Whoever… Whatever you are, I’m not the person you want to be speaking to, trust me.” He sat back down on the rough bed, he had decided nothing else could be done so grabbed one of the metallic instruments from the floor and began to fiddle with it.

  He was left to wander into his own thoughts, not for the first time over the last twenty-four hours, and they turned to his friend, Baz. The last image he had of him was that of his lifeless body lying there, bobbing off the hanger’s shielding and contorting into an unnatural position. With all the death that had occurred on this day, it was easy to lose himself and give in. He shook his head, “Nope, I’ve gotta stay alert, I still don’t even know where I am.”

  Seeming to read his mind, a hiss came from the wall adjacent to where he sat, a crack in the wall appeared and an opening slowly formed. Looking around, making sure he hadn’t done anything, he got up, cautious of anything that may be about to appear through the door. Now able to support his own weight much easier, he strolled over to the door and peeked around the corner into what looked like a hallway. They were off-white with a luminous blue strip consistent across the walls at just below head height. Putting a cautious hand on the railing next to him, he made his way forwards, ignorant of where he was headed or where he even was.

  There was a certain familiarity about it all, bare hallways with rooms off them, the hum of power that coursed through the walls. He came to what appeared to be a dead end, but before he could turn to retrace his steps the wall cracked and opened to reveal a second doorway. Strolling in with an arrogance and swagger about him, nothing would have prepared him for what he saw. Sat in large, concave chairs were four beings, their skin the same silvery-grey the surface of the ships that emerged from slip space had. They turned their large heads and stared at him with enormous blue eyes. One of the beings raised up from its chair, its bipedal stance not dissimilar to his own. The alien creature wandered over to him and lurched tall above his own frame. The creature made a series of clicking noises that hit every octave, is it trying to communicate? he wondered.

  “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say” Sean spoke, slowly and disjointed, the way an ignorant tourist would to a non-native speaker. The creature stared at him and shook its head, it reached over to Sean and placed two fingers above his ear. He felt a click in his head as a large voltage surged through, causing him to shout and grab either side of his now throbbing brain. After a moment, the being spoke.

  “Welcome aboard the Mar’Ell, Earthling,” it smiled.

  “You… You speak English?” he asked, his mind awash with questions.

  “Sadly we do not. We implanted a device into your head that links up to your neural pathways and connects to our computer’s database, offering a close-to-real translation.” Rubbing his fingers over his forehead, Sean felt the scar from where they had operated on him earlier.

  “You did what!” Sean shouted, completely incredulous that at first contact they had operated on him. “Who gave you permission?” the alien seemed to chortle, making a wheezing sound as it did.

  “Would you rather not know what we are saying?” the alien sniggered between breaths as he and his crewmates burst into a fit of giggles like a group of teenage schoolgirls. “We mean you no harm, Sean Maguire, believe me when I say this.”

  “I won't even ask how you know my name, special mind tricks and more invasive procedures I bet,” with this the four aliens burst into a fit of laughter, each doubling over as they tried to catch their breath. Rubbing his eyes, the creature responded.

  “Nothing like that. You had a piece of metal around your neck with a name on it,” the alien chuckled, “Did your master give it to you as a present?” This was the final straw, with the beings now in a full rapture of laughter, Sean went to storm off what he assumed was the bridge and back towards his original room.

  “Let him go,” another being insisted from off to the side. Returning to his room, he had time to process everything that had just happened. “Were they taking the piss out of me?” he grumbled, “Bastards.” So, I’m aboard a ship of some kind, probably one of the second batch to appear, he thought, now retreating to the safety of his own mind. But who were they? What did they even want, resources, manpower? He would get no answers sitting where he was, but had no desire to be laughed at again, so he laid back down where he started and slipped off into a deep sleep.

  * * *

  “Analyse those new signatures, Private, give me any details you can,” general Michael Hagen ordered, directing his crew with authority.

  “Yes sir, right away.” Michael turned to face Lawrence Harrison. He could tell he was exhausted, the last twenty-four hours had been hectic, two completely different sets of unidentified signatures had entered the system near Earth and their defensive fleet had all but been wiped out. There were still new ships being constructed at Helios Shipyard, a planetside base for constructing capital ships based on the Moon. Neither of the sets of the alien craft had attempted to make contact directly with them, despite Earth sending multiple hail signals at various frequencies. Rubbing his eyes in a futile attempt to reinvigorate his demeanour, Lawrence sat upright in his leather chair and began to speak.

  “Have we not had any contact back from the craft yet, Michael?”

  “Not yet,” he trailed off.

  “I wonder if they intend us harm, they seemed to appear out of nowhere and obliterate the original aggressors, although it seems they took some damage themselves if our probes are to be relied on,” Lawrence proclaimed, more to clear the cobwebs from his mind than restating the facts they already knew. “Activate screen two and display the feed from drones orbiting the craft.” As instructed, an Officer walked over to their private display and input various commands, a holographic image buzzed into life above the table, ripples of blue distorted the picture from atmospheric interference. The probe in orbit rotated, giving them a clear view of what they wanted to see. There was six sleek craft in a stationary position near Earth, seeming to ignore their gravitational pull. Seeing small movement on the distorted image, Michael perked up.

  “Officer Jason, can you magnify this sector here,” he ordered, pointing to the hologram. The officer once again input commands beyond the knowledge of Michael, and the image zoomed to the desired location. They saw what appeared to be small shuttlecraft zipping about the wreckage and inspecting debris left by both sets of aliens, recovering what they could. “Are they collecting their dead do you think?” the general contemplated.

  “I’m not sure, that concept may be entirely foreign to them. Maybe they saw an opportunity to inspect what technology makes up our craft before attacking us.” Nodding, Michael turned to face the screen, watching as the shuttles seemed to let out a constantly repeating pulse of light which dragged the larger parts of the debris towards their waiting ships. Thinking to himself, Lawrence stood up and walked over to an open terminal and started keying in commands.

  “Let’s send a hail on every frequency possible, they must be monitoring one of them.” Michael walked over and looked over Lawrence’s shoulder as he attempted his plan. After a few minutes of adjusting the terminal to connect to his company’s, The Institute’s, virtual private network, he gained access to his geosynchronous satellites. “Right then, let’s give this a shot.” Lawrence liaised with employees at his offices, instructing them on how to utilise every hertz of bandwidth available. Once the work was complete, he gazed over towards Michael, who only nodded his approval. With confirmation, he activated the signal and sat back as they waited for a response.

  “
Hopefully, we don’t overload the systems on their ships,” Michael scoffed.

  “Or, hopefully we do if they plan to attack us…” Lawrence replied. After a few moments of nervous pacing, a signal beeped from the console near them, a scrolling display of ones and zeros flashed onto the screen as the Terran hardware tried to decipher what had just been sent. “Here!” Lawrence shouted, “Come quick, we have something.” The entire room rushed over and gazed at the bright screen. “I’ll send this back to my researchers, I’ll keep it classified so word doesn’t get out.”

  Civilian launches had been halted on Terranus Prime and her colonies on the Moon and Mars while a ‘clean-up’ operation took place. The explosion of Hades station was attributed to an industrial accident, but rumours had started to spread within certain amateur stargazing communities and propagated worldwide from there.

  Twenty minutes passed as the team waited anxiously, with an incoming transmission the researchers reported back. “There’s a lot of rubbish in there because we are sending and receiving on a wide range of bandwidths. We tried our best to unjumble everything, but these are the terms that seemed to keep repeating.” The information displayed on the terminal in front of everyone in the room, and the researcher was right, it was nonsense.

  “We were foolish if we thought they would reply to us in perfect English…” a cadet lamented wryly. All eyes in the room snapped to her with a cold stare, she backed away into her chair and pretended to carry on working on something else.