Phoenix Rising: The Covenant (Phoenix Rising Infinitology Book 1) Read online

  Shantara clicked the intercom. “I doubt I’m the last of my species, someone had to survive. We were spread through many planets, as were your people. Don’t think you are the only one and you know you aren’t alone. I know it’s hard to accept but there has to be more of us out there. The Followers take prisoners and they take slaves as often as they convert. Who knows the information in that box might give us a lead on where some of these people are.”

  Kel took a deep breath. “Your sentimentality is quite charming but I’m afraid your words are lost on me. It just might. Even if it doesn’t it will give us the opportunity to even the score a little and perhaps get some people out before the Followers get to them.”

  In the cockpit Shantara was pouting and Rowland looked up momentarily then thought better of speaking. He went back to sorting out the bundle of wires on his lap.

  The hours rolled by, broken up by the occasional crackle from the intercom as Rowland attempted to fix the problem. Kel passed the time by checking over his guns.

  Shantara broke the silence. “What are you thinking?”

  Kel looked annoyed. “I don’t do much by way of that thinking lark. I leave that to you technological and sensitive types.”

  In the quiet solitude of the metal shell flying effortlessly through space Kel did think. In his mind he was back home where the camp fires burnt brightly in the chilled evening air. The smell of cooking and the smoke from the wood fire, fur and leather mingled with the smell of animals and smell it now.

  The like he remembered them. But even in that moment of solace where he could imagine everything was alright, images came to remind him how far it was from reality. Unbidden came the images of its destruction, of his people dead. He was almost glad when Shantara’s voice crackled across the intercom. “What was it like being a hunter in your tribe? Did you enjoy it?” There was a pause which hung in the silence as Kel scowled. “Look, what do you think? Life was simple back then. I people to build such a strong memory that he could almost

  ghosts of his life wandered again, laughing and living liked my life. I didn’t have people asking stupid questions. You’ve seen enough films where the hero loses his home and his family. Well, there you go. Yes I loved my life but it’s gone. I’m not going into all that again, I’ve told you about it enough. You know very well that I liked the constant trips out to hunt Arlyx as that was the true test of a warrior. Life could have been a pleasure if that had been allowed to continue. So yes, I was happy back then, it was my life and I wish with every waking moment that it hadn’t changed.” His last words were almost growled.

  Shantara was a slim woman who, if she had been human, would have been placed in her mid-thirties. Her hair and skin were a pale lilac, her eyes a vibrant purple. She smiled, her skin slightly flushed darker since Kel’s last words. She was almost boyish in her looks which contrasted dramatically with her ample breasts. Her standard issue blue boiler suit clashed slightly with her skin and was unflattering. She looked at the tubby disheveled individual who was still welding wires from the impossible tangle in front of him. He wasn’t looking at her, he was trying to balance a manual on his knee and put out the small fire he had caused by igniting its pages with his soldering iron.

  She looked away when the fire was out. “So what was your home world like? What was your village like? I saw it in a book I found in the library on base. Those pointed tents looked amazing with their poles ascending to the sky and the smell of the campfire and roasting meat must have been a regular thing. I went camping once on my world, just a night but I’ll never forget that smell, the smoke, the fresh grass.”

  Kel scowled and clenched his fist. “All I remember now are those same tents burnt to the ground, my people lying dead and dying and me along with them. And yes I do wish I’d died there too and no I don’t want to talk about it. They are all gone. My family, my wife and my two children, their bodies blackened and charred by the time I came around. I will never know what my unborn child would have looked like. I will never again feel Shakar’s gentle touch and hear her mild wisdom both to me and to those who came to her for her words. Look these aren’t memories I really want. I know you mean well but for now, can we just be silent.” He thrust his other blaster back into its holster and watched the lights of the space between dimensions rushing past the window. He focused on his new home, Mission Command.

  Within the hour the thrusters changed their vibration and the sparkles of the inter-dimensional space elongated as they re-entered normal space and he could see the starfish shaped base out of the window in the distance as they made their descent. Its silver tendrils spread over the moon’s crust leading from one room to another.

  Shantara piped up. “So how is life different from your life back where you came from?”

  Kel looked to the ceiling. “You never give up do you? Not much has changed really. I train people and then I see empty seats when their crews come back without them sometimes.”

  Shantara spoke gently. “I don’t know how you cope.”

  Kel laughed. “I bet you don’t or you wouldn’t keep asking and reminding me of everything. Nothing really makes me feel that much better but I have a need for revenge, it is my life. If that shocks you, stop asking.”

  Shantara’s brow furrowed. “That kind of attitude can’t be healthy. Haven’t they sent you to the base psychologist?”

  Kel bit his lip in frustration. “Shantara, not everyone needs to talk about things and not everyone sees it as a problem. Commander Zack no longer sees it as a problem. I’ve proven myself to be loyal and I am in control. They are as happy for me to kill Followers as I am. It makes me an effective killing machine, they appreciate it and they ask little more of me. I have a room, food and that is about the best I can ask for now. They don’t have a problem with it, so why do you? You are going to have to stop trying to understand me. It is not the road to a deep and meaningful relationship. It was one night. You’ll have to get over it.”

  She looked down at the controls as the ship brought them down to land. “Ok, I’ll concentrate on landing, we’ll speak later.”

  Rowland looked up. “Don’t be silly. There’s little to concentrate on as the computers handle all the minute calculations and adjustments. I can’t see why you…” Her glare silenced him.

  She was focusing on a terminal, her flawless skin furrowed by the scowl. Her belt was pulled in to accentuate her slim waist.

  Rowland was a middle aged balding man whose boiler suit mostly fitted him but the zip struggled slightly to keep his copious waistline in check. His thinning dark brown hair was unkempt as he constantly ran his fingers through it and his pudgy face was fixed in an almost constant smile. In front of him the communications array lay in pieces where he had taken it apart looking for the problem. Tools lay on the floor around him and wires pointed without purpose into the air.

  Shantara cast a cautious sideways glance and almost sighed before she caught herself, focused forwards, relieved that she hadn’t attracted his attention. Thinking that silence was golden.

  “Fixed it.” Rowland’s voice almost squeaked over the intercom which crackled into life.

  Shantara’s voice sounded presently, better buckle up.”

  The Hopper lurched slightly heading on and off base. Hoppers Transporters, supply ships and all manner of other civilian and military craft navigated their way around each other. They hovered slightly as Rowland keyed in the password and codes and then they waited, and waited. They were all waiting expectantly for that moment when the strained. “We will be landing

  as it negotiated the other traffic and other craft came and went. Controller gave them the go ahead to land. When they got the landing code Shantara brought the Hopper effortlessly in on the outdoor landing pad. The clamps raised and the Hopper was securely grasped and moved forwards, sliding through the open doors of the hangar bay to be placed against the airlocks, one beside the cockpit the other covering the back bay door. There was a hiss as the pressures equali
zed and the back and side ramps descended to meet the immaculately clean white walkway of the Mission Command docking bay.

  Kel sprang to his feet and strode out and down the corridor stopping in the glass booth at the end. Medical and other scanners sprang to life when they sensed movement. A red beam of light ran over the length of this body. He stood stock still as the intercom and recorded message sprang to life. “You are being scanned by the Inselink Medical Scanner, Reference Number SC2341566. Please stand completely still. This will not hurt and your personal rights are not being violated by this and the procedure does not infringe your rights as an individual but it is an essential requirement for entering the base. Should you wish not to be scanned please return to your vessel and await further instructions. Thank you, you have been scanned and you are completely healthy. There is a slight strain of your right ankle and this has been logged on your medical record. Please attend a medical officer to have this attended to at your convenience. Welcome back to base KE237 Kel Elyn.” The red light on the control panel switched to green and the door in front of him slid silently open.

  He stepped out onto the polished blue floor on the other side of the compartment and his eyes ran along the photographs of planets. He’d done this walk a hundred or so times but he always managed to notice something new. He breathed in deeply, the citrus smell of the floor polish filling his nostrils. The smell of home which conjured up many of the memories he had formed since he had been on the base. He took a moment to think about them, filed them in his mind and strolled off down the corridor. The glass door closed behind him. As he looked back the Hopper’s ramps closed and large metal clamps reached down to encircle it before they took it off to maintenance.

  At the second glass door which opened and closed in front of him he stepped out into the pristine white corridor which denoted he was in the main hub of the station. There were no photographs or pictures here, just white walls. He followed it as it turned the corner and there he met up with Shantara and Rowland who had just come through the pilots’ arrival lounge. Both wore military boiler suits with their rank and insignia of their planet of origin. Shantara wore the insignia of a pilot and combat medic, Rowland that of engineer. Rowland bore the insignia of Mission Command while that panel on Shantara’s boiler suit was empty.

  Shantara smiled broadly at Kel and took a step closer while Rowland kept his distance and fell slightly behind. He froze slightly and looked uncomfortable. He kept well behind as they strode off down the corridor. Shantara didn’t notice, she was busy reaching into her pocket for a notebook. She fell in step beside Kel and they strode in silence down the corridor until they came to double doors on the right. Shantara tapped in her code with her elegantly painted fingernails, 4568, and the chrome doors swished effortlessly open.

  The slightly damp air that met them carried the aroma of perfume and bath products. The room they entered was bustling with members of Mission Command. Rows of shiny black lockers lined the walls. Some open, most locked shut. There where twenty soldiers and civilians who were gearing up, dressing down or fetching things from their lockers. It was a communal room. Some individuals came and went from the showers, wrapped in towels or bath robes, retrieving clothes from their lockers before changing in the cubicles to the right of the room.

  Kel went to his locker and ran his hand over the identification pad. The locker door swung open. Where other lockers were decorated inside with photographs and mementos of previous happy times Kel’s was bare. He hesitated for a moment, turned and reached into his deep pockets and pulled out the items he had taken from the room on the mission. He looked at them for a moment and then handed them to Shantara. She took them from him, looking more at him than what she was doing, her other hand brushing his as she pretended to steady the pile of things he had placed on her hand.

  Kel was oblivious to this, he took out his towel, buckskin tunic and leather trousers and disappeared through the door to the shower room.

  Shantara and Rowland went to their lockers and took out their mission logs in silence. Rowland kept looking as if he was going to speak but as Shantara appeared busy and glared when he caught her eye he shut his mouth again. little further on Shantara entered her code and the single door slid silently open.

  The large room beyond was in two halves. The closest half was painted gunmetal grey. Pictures of different types of shuttle and ship hung on the wall. The light grey floor was a contrast to the white of the floor outside. Three long tables were set out parallel to each other and surrounded by chairs. A low wooden wall divided each table in half. The wooden terminals displayed occupied, most were empty.

  The far side half of the room had been partitioned off by a glass wall and a single glass door was shut. It was a smaller room and its main feature was a large black stone table with chairs around it which stood They left in silence and re-entered the corridor. A they stopped outside a door to the right and again

  dividers waited set at intervals provided private cubicles where patiently for someone to use them. The screens the standard Mission Command screensaver. Some were regally in the center. The room was currently empty and the table was set with notepads, bottles of water and glasses awaiting the next meeting.

  They walked in silence to a pair of terminals next to each other, sat down and logged in their passwords. The logo disappeared and a screen appeared offering a list of choices. They both clicked on “Mission Report”, the report template appeared, already filled in with the mission brief and as they began typing the boxes filled up and the auto correct kept their reports roughly readable.

  Shantara stopped typing and hesitated. “Why doesn’t Kel have to file a report?”

  Rowland smiled. “Kel can’t read or write. The Commander got him a teacher but they gave up in the end. He’ll do a verbal debrief later if there is anything worth reporting. He’s not one for noticing detail anyway and his reports were very uninformative or so I am led to believe.”

  They sat in silence and typed, hit send and the job was done. They were about to log off when Shantara looked over at Rowland. “Isn’t it about time that you told me a bit more about the Followers? Come on you are keen enough on your stories. We’ve got a little time while we wait for our next orders to come through.”

  Rowland looked a little stunned. “You know about the Followers. Come on, what is behind this? You mean you actually want me to tell you something? That makes a change. Well, ok then but I can’t think that I know anything that you don’t. I’ll have to miss out specifics as you don’t have full clearance yet. You will probably know as it is pretty much common knowledge that the Followers came to the Galaxies twenty five years ago. There was no record of them before then and most people welcomed them initially as a curiosity and then as a new and exciting ideal. They seemed to have good ethics which most people weren’t that bothered about but they made people’s lives better. People always like that and they tend to overlook a lot of they feel they are better off that way.

  Looking back on it now they took what was seen as a healthy interest in the galaxies. Many of their people stood for positions in local government and eventually they got into positions which real influence on intergalactic affairs. Basically they worked their way into every level of government and their policy of having as many children as possible made sure that in a few generations they had control at all levels.

  While they were the saviors of the galaxies that wasn’t a problem but a few years ago things changed. Many people couldn’t see it but those who did started to realize that perhaps these people were not the salvation they were made out to be. But of course by then it was too late. Mission Command was here for those who realized the problem. I think the rest is pretty much history.

  Some planets had lived in peace for thousands of years without major technological advancement. They were progressing at their natural pace.

  Suddenly they had technology thrust on them which in the most part wasn’t a huge problem while everything was peaceful
. But, when the Followers started having opposition they needed more resources and places to take them from where they wouldn’t be noticed. They wanted to keep any conflict very quiet. This did not go well for the planets they harvested as they needed more materials and food to feed and provide for an ever growing population as well. They were left with an ecological wasteland as the planets were over farmed and didn’t have the capability to replenish the soil. Many of them are dustbowls now, their inhabitants scratching a living where once they had rich pastures or they were wiped out to keep it quiet.

  Wherever the Followers landed they “converted” new followers and those who would not convert were left as burnt corpses. Well that is what we know now. At the time it was all done very quietly. It was a join or die philosophy and often there wasn’t anyone left to report what happened if you didn’t convert. Of course once they had an uninhabited planet they moved their own followers there as new colonies. That much I think everyone knows now since there was a major broadcast by rebels a year or so back. Many planets rose up against this but most planets have just caved in and capitulated. The broadcast terrified the inhabitants of some planets into believing if they stood up to the Followers they would die. Which in effect means that the broadcast has backfired. Rather than weakening the Followers it strengthened their position and effectively neutralized the opposition.

  In some places where the inhabitants joined them freely they are still heralded as the heroes who saved the worlds. Where they weren’t so welcome they destroyed villages as a lesson to those who would stand against them and as their numbers grew and as they acquired better technology whole cities and even planets were wiped out. Their control of the media meant they were able to explain this away as a natural disaster or even as a good thing that was beneficial to the planet. That was the power of positive propaganda. Then they could impose their rules and regimes and as these came into play people lost their will to fight for free will as on the face of it they had great lives and everything they needed if they did what they were told.