The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion Read online

  The Chronicles of Aallandranon

  Episode One

  Ant-Lion

  By Benjamin Allen

  A Science Fiction-Fantasy Series

  Smashwords Edition

  First American Edition

  Copyright © 2016 Benjamin Allen. All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2000 The Chronicles of Aallandranon, created by Benjamin Allen

  This E-book is licensed for the personal enjoyment of interested readers. This E-book may not be re-sold for profit, but may be loaned at the purchaser’s discretion. This E-book may be reproduced, copied, and distributed for non-commercial purposes provided the E-book remains in its complete original form and all due credit goes to the original author, Benjamin Allen. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This story is intended for mature readers. Scenes depict graphic murder, drug use, and sexuality. This book is also a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales, are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons–living or dead–is entirely coincidental.

  For my wife, Suyoung

  And, for all who wish to become lost in the fantastical,

  swept away by the miraculous, and bask in the extraordinary:

  This series was made for you.

  1

  “You are under arrest for the deaths of 5,000 people aboard the Star Ship Enigma, and the total destruction of the Pluto Station.” Those were the first words Jonathan Tabith was able to comprehend after waking from four months in cryostasis. His vision was filled with fuzzy light. His head felt enormous. It took him a moment to realize that he was sitting upright in a hospital bed. He tried to move his right hand to massage the pain in his forehead, but it was handcuffed to the bed rail. “Do you know where you are? Are you aware of anything?”

  Jonathan savored the fleeting moments his brain took to realize who he was and why he was here… and what he had done. The memories of murder, blood-lust, and the impossible feats he had accomplished refilled the spaces of his recollection. For once, he was glad to feel absolutely powerless.

  “Your eyes are open so say something.” The woman’s voice from nearby spoke to him again. He didn’t recognize that voice. There was the muffled sound of movement. “He’s not talking.”

  “We should jettison him from the airlock,” spoke a different woman’s voice. “He doesn’t deserve to live after what he did to Pluto Station.”

  Pluto Station? Jonathan remembered the Enigma, but what had he done to Pluto Station? “I…” He tried to speak and the two listeners moved closer. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry for everything.”

  His world dissolved into darkness.

  Jonathan could see clearly when he opened his eyes later. His head felt at least half the size it had felt before. He was in an empty conference room aboard one of the transport vessels from Earth, still handcuffed to the hospital bed. He smelled the aroma of tobacco for the first time in eight years, and looked over to see a woman wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She wore black slacks and rested her hand upon her knee with a dwindling cigarette between her index and middle fingers. The woman had neat blonde hair that had been done up in a ponytail.

  “Feeling better?” She asked, raising the cigarette to her lips to pull the last few centimeters of its life. “We gave you some Fresolantium: a new drug we’ve been experimenting with on Earth. You remember Earth, right, where you were born?”

  “Of course I remember Earth.” Jonathan spoke through a dry, groggy voice.

  “My name is Detective Jocelyn Sizemore. I’ve been assigned to figure out the details of what happened on the Star Ship Enigma. All of the records from your Falcon class military spacecraft have been wiped except for the last order you gave to go into cryostasis. Now, why would you go and do a thing like that, Jonathan?”

  “Because what happened is too difficult for you to understand.”

  “Unfortunately, that’s not good enough for me.” Jocelyn finished her cigarette and put the butt in an ashtray on the small table beside her where a stack of Jonathan’s pre-Enigma files lay. “You gotta give me something, Jonathan. 5,000 people don’t just got missing overnight.”

  “They’re not missing. I know exactly where they are… at least, those who are still alive.” Jonathan said.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Jocelyn said. “How do we find the rest of the Enigma survivors?”

  “I wouldn’t even know how to tell you.”

  Jocelyn looked displeased. “Can’t and won’t are two different words with the same meaning in your situation.” There was a long time of waiting for Jonathan’s response, which never came. “Okay, how about the Pluto Station. How do you explain that one?”

  “As you know from the date of my cryostasis record, I couldn’t possibly know what happened at Pluto Station.” Jonathan said. “How about you fill me in and we go from there.”

  “Your ship was lodged in an asteroid, an asteroid that’s trajectory was set for the Pluto Station. Since we had no record of an asteroid’s trajectory being in line with Pluto Station, no one was able to stop it in time. The station was destroyed two weeks ago, Jonathan. There’s nothing left, and you’re being held responsible.”

  Jonathan glared ahead at this. “I was on my way back to Pluto Station and nearly out of power, so I used all of my Falcon’s remaining energy to push an asteroid at a trajectory that would eventually meet with my destination. That someone at the Pluto Station didn’t take counter-preventative measures with an imminent collision of space debris is entirely not my fault. I was trying to stay alive. Incompetence here is what led to the destruction of the Pluto Station, and that is sickening.”

  Jocelyn looked like she needed another cigarette. “Our reports were clear of debris when the computer ran them seconds prior to the collision. Our alert systems went off, but the impact happened almost immediately. We were also in the midst of an important gathering after the tragic death of Gary Rudolph.”

  Jonathan’s eyes widened. “Rudolph is dead?”

  “Most definitely. He was hit by a bolide while out with a repair team. It hit Jimmy Golding’s ankle and nearly cost him his leg, but they saw Rudolph floating away. His life-signs were in the negative, and he had a hole through his suit.”

  “That’s extremely unfortunate,” said Jonathan, thinking. “I wonder how fast I was going after….” He trailed off, looking at Jocelyn

  She narrowed her attention on him. “The station was designed to withstand a catastrophic event so we were able to evacuate the station and get all the survivors onto C class star ships en route for Earth. And, of course, save your ass from the asteroid that caused all the damage. Imagine our surprise when it turned out to be you inside that ship. Now, everybody in the solar system is waiting to hear the outcome of the other catastrophic event that took the Enigma.”

  “That is a long story, one that’s going to take too much time to explain from beginning to end.”

  Jocelyn lifted her hand into the air. “We have six months until we reach Earth. Until we present your story to the five remaining members of the Pluto Council and hold a proper trial, you’re not going anywhere. Get the details of your story straight and tell me what happened after your departure from the Pluto Station a year and a half ago.”

  Jonathan took a few minutes to consider how to explain. He had known that he would have to tell the people of Earth what happened and had prepared the majority of his story during his tr
ip. But what happened… before… seemed like a lifetime ago. “All of this is being recorded, right?” Jonathan drawled, meeting Jocelyn’s green eyes. Jocelyn stood up and nodded. “Good, because I don’t want to tell this story more than once. I’ll answer questions, but this is all you’re going to get.”

  “All right. Whenever you’re ready.” Jocelyn said. She took another cigarette from a dwindling pack in her breast pocket, and stuck it in her mouth. She put her thumb to the tip and pulled, breathing out smoke.

  Jonathan took a deep breath. “It starts with the day of our departure….”

  2

  Jonathan Tabith opened his eyes to the titanium ceiling of his cabin at five in the morning. Pluto, with the ring of the Pluto Station circling it, slowly drifted across his window as the Star Ship Enigma performed routine tests. The distant shine of the sun glimmered from the center of the solar system against the backdrop of stars. Today was an important day.

  He showered in his personal bathroom and dressed in his uniform with the red armband. In two hours, the Enigma would be leaving Pluto Station for Alpha Centauri. Jonathan had been waiting for this day for the last twenty-years. He slid his sleeve back and clipped the bronze Manica-Band onto his wrist. The holographic interface on the bracer glowed to life as it synchronized with his vital signs.

  His room door slid apart as he walked under the sensor and then it closed and locked after he entered the dimly-lit corridor leading to the Bridge. Juan Langston’s door was open so Jonathan could see him meditating on a red carpet with his neighbor, Rick Daniels, seated at his side. The use of meditation had been promoted by the military throughout the last hundred years as it was proven to steady the mind and body. Since they were about to embark on a journey that could easily take the lives of the 5,000 people aboard the ship, a little relaxation couldn’t hurt.

  Jonathan took the stairs leading to the Primary Life Support Hall. He stepped off the bottom stair to the rubber path leading through the bright green grove beneath the artificial sun on the ceiling high above. He walked between the large genetically engineered evergreen oak trees that filled the room. He saw Stephanie Rawi, the head of the ship’s environmental control department, typing on a touch-pad as she observed a tree that was yellower than the others. She had long red hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a naturally fair complexion.

  “Good morning, Doctor Tabith.” She smiled at him.

  “Morning, Doctor Rawi.” He nodded, looking at the tree-limbs swaying with the steady stream of wind that pumped through the room periodically throughout the day as Rawi surveyed her notes. “Is there any way I can be of assistance?”

  “Not unless you can explain why this tree grew with an imbalanced cytokinin to auxin ratio.” Rawi cocked her brow at the clueless expression on his face. She smiled. “I’ll be fine, thanks for asking.”

  “Sorry, my botany skills were subpar at best.” Jonathan laughed. “Hard to grow anything on Venus.” He started toward the lift nearby.

  “Good luck if I don’t see you again before the launch.” She called as he turned around on the lift.

  “Thanks, good luck with the tree.” He said. She adjusted her glasses and nodded. The lift doors closed and he descended to the Engineering Hall.

  In the Engineering Hall, hundreds of uniformed people hurried through the many corridors between the reactors and computer terminals. Jonathan made his way around the cat-walk and entered the foreman’s office.

  Chance Trillian sat at the desk looking uncomfortable as he scratched the collar of his suit. He met Jonathan’s eyes. “Morning, Doctor Tabith. I hate going through Life-Support to get here. That artificial sun always makes me itchy.” He had short, brown hair and blue eyes. Chance had been born with a rare skin disease that made him more susceptible to the sun’s UV rays. Before leaving Earth, he had undergone a skin transplant that was supposed to permanently cure his disease. After getting his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering, Chance was one of the first engineers to sign on with the Enigma.

  “Sam’s putting out fires,” said Chance. “Captain Joyce told him he’d be off the ship if he didn’t have the reports on his desk by five this morning. Sam forgot, even though he had the reports ready on the desk when I got here. Hope the captain’s in a good mood.”

  “Where’s William? I need to go over a few points before launch.” Jonathan said.

  “Really? You’re being anal-retentive. Everything is just as perfect as it’s been for the last three months. There’s no point you could cover that he hasn’t.”

  “You’re probably right, and I briefed him and Sam Hartigan already so it should be fine.”

  “Engineering is covered.” Chance assured him. “Go enjoy the launch from the Bridge.”

  Jonathan took a deep breath. “Fine. Carry on.” He continued to the other side of the Engineering Hall and rode the tram to the Core and Observation Deck. The doors opened to the massive neon purple core that consumed the center of the Core room. Terminals surrounded the base where twenty engineers were crowded for last-minute checks and tweaks. Jonathan had spent most of the last few days in this room, calibrating the core for the level of energy that the ship would need in order to get out of the solar system.

  He followed the path that wound around the room and core. He couldn’t help thinking about the amount of power the core held–enough to destroy half the solar system if it were to destabilize. Both the ship and the Pluto Space Station had crippled him financially, but it was necessary to see all of this come to fruition.

  Jonathan entered the Observation Deck, a long domed-glass corridor leading from the Primary Functions part of the ship to the Operations. The corridor was filled with people moving from one part of the ship to the other. Everyone from the Primary Functions had a green armband. Each person Jonathan passed once he exited the Observation Deck was wearing a red band for Operations. The captain and the executive officer had blue armbands. The medical officers’ armbands were white, and the maintenance and flight officers’ armbands were orange. He walked past the Medical office and entered the Bridge.

  The Bridge was a large room with three stories beneath the massive front window of the Enigma. The bottom story was for flight controls and basic ship operations where Ryan Thompson and Clara Wallace were positioned in the pilot and co-pilot seats. Patrick Spalding was seated at the operations terminal going over diagnostics. The second story was for Tactical and Defense. George Freeman sat at the defense terminal, monitoring the ship’s defense system. The third story was information. Gene Sherri ran the Information Center, so everyone was used to hearing her voice when it came to interacting with the Enigma Network. At the podium on the third story, Executive Officer Stephen Adams stood at Captain Richard Joyce’s side.

  “Finally rolled out of bed, Doctor Tabith?” Captain Joyce smiled. He had thin, graying hair and the confident charisma of a military leader.

  “Just nervous about today.” Jonathan said.

  “Don’t be. Everything is running smoothly.” Joyce replied.

  “Everyone keeps saying that,” Jonathan said, approaching the weapons terminal, “though I’m sure there’s something someone’s forgotten, something that got neglected or slipped between the cracks, like the weapons being shut off. What if we had entered the Oort Cloud without the weapons being online?” He turned the weapons support on.

  “That wouldn’t have happened,” said Captain Joyce. “Have a little faith in Mr. Freeman’s capability.”

  “Thanks for the support, Doctor Tabith.” Freeman said sarcastically without looking away from his terminal.

  Jonathan checked the shields, making sure they were keeping the ship protected from radiation as well as small space debris. All was as it had been throughout the last year since the Enigma’s initial launch. The power, the conundrum Jonathan had fretted over for years, had remained at a constant flow from the core. He could hardly believe they were an hour from launch without a single problem. He had created the Enigma to be flawless.


  “Since you have nothing else to do, Tabith, go down to the Flight Dock and give this to the new recruit.” Adams slipped a touch-pad into Jonathan’s hands.

  Jonathan took the pad through the doors nearby. The Flight Dock was directly under the Bridge, so he wouldn't have to go far. He took an elevator to the level below where dozens of large aircraft were stored. The Hawks, which lined the docks to the left of the pathway, were small fighter aircraft whose purpose was to clear away asteroids or scout questionable regions of space. There were a number of Falcons–a five-man surveillance aircraft–on the level beneath the Hawks. The larger Freighters were for transports, and they could hold close to a thousand people in the event that they needed to disperse a small populace from the Enigma. The ultimate goal was to find a habitable planet while maintaining a space station in that planet’s orbit. Within the transport Freighters were all the means necessary to do just that, including terraform technology.

  The lift lowered to the bottom floor. It took a minute as the room was so large. Below, men in mechanized cargo loader suits moved large boxes of equipment from the loading docks to the climate-controlled storage units. Jonathan approached the recent arrivals line, which currently contained only one transport Freighter. A group of officers exited and started down the ramp. The last was a young woman with long, curly brown hair and blue eyes. She was still wearing her black academy uniform with the gold trim, which meant she had been pulled straight out of class.

  “Janice Temps.” Jonathan approached. When Janice saw Jonathan, her face went two shades lighter.

  “You’re....”