H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (22 page)
by Kevin Gerald Rau
H.E.R.O. – Dark Research
Copyright © 2011 Kevin Gerald Rau
Editors
Dan Henry
Kimi Johnson
Ralph Gadbois
All characters are original and fictional. Any likeness to real people is purely incidental.
Cover created by Kevin Rau.
The H.E.R.O. series includes:
H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis (1)
http://www.amzn.com/B005GM3PV8
H.E.R.O. - New Markets (2)
http://www.amzn.com/B005NBLWW6
H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (3)
http://www.amzn.com/B005QNS4ZY
H.E.R.O. - Dark Research (4)
http://www.amzn.com/B006KWAA3O
H.E.R.O. - Horde (5)
http://www.amzn.com/B0070UQ5G6
H.E.R.O. - Paragon (6)
H.E.R.O. - Dossier I (Illustrated Guidebook) - coming approximately Apr/May 2012
Wondering what some of the characters look like in detail?
http://www.facebook.com/herobooks
has images of many of the heroes.
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Preview Chapter 1 – Sol
Third Person Viewpoint
Gahran-Universal Language converted to English
The air of excitement was high on the starship Selestor. The ship was new, a Class 2 small transport owned by Captain Trilk. It was a sleek ship, approximately ten meters long, and the same width when including the 3 meter wings on each side. The captain was hired by a scientist - Kazhan Liessar - specifically because of the long range of the new Gate device on the ship.
Captain Trilk brought up a 3-dimensional holographic star map, turned and looked at the scientists sitting in the cabin behind him. The ship was capable of carrying up to ten passengers, although only four of the seats were occupied by the team led by Kazhan. The four consisted of three men and one woman. Fortunately each of the front seats had a computer console available to work at, those further back did not.
Captain Trilk asked, "Please verify the location one last time, Kazhan. This will challenge the maximum range even for the Gate 10-X I've got in the ship here. Once I open it, we won't be able to open another gate for about a week."
Kazhan replied, "Understood. We've verified these dozens of times, but I'll check again." He tapped his wrist computer, which created a two-dimensional visual in the air above it. He swiped through a menu system directly on the image until he found the data and compared it against the display on the cabin wall. He continued, "It matches my coordinates. Please continue." A tap on his wrist and the display blinked out.
Qarath, one of Kazhan's team said, "This is quite exciting. I've never gone so far from Gahran before."
Captain Trilk said, "Few have. There are not many known inhabited planets in the region of space we are going to." He tapped some buttons on a console in front of him. The display changed as he tapped, allowing him to quickly move through the gate sequence.
The scientists listened to the sound of the engine powering up behind them in the tiny ship. Within a minute they watched through the ship's front crystal viewport as energy beams lanced forward and a Gate grew from nothing to a diameter of approximately 20 meters. It appeared to be a cylindrical tunnel leading off into space.
Kazhan asked, "Why is the gate so large? The ship is only about 10 meters wide?"
Captain Trilk said, "It allows for towing larger cargo if required. Also, if we needed to move through quickly I would rather not hit the edge of the Gate with a wing."
Kazhan nodded.
Captain Trilk continued, "The bridge to the far side is stabilizing. Preparing a probe."
Rishan, another scientist, asked, "Why do we need a probe again?"
"We are not moving to known clear coordinates, and the ship's sensors do not work through a bridge. The probe will scan and communicate the status back through the bridge."
Rishan’s long pointed ears shifted forward, "Understood."
Captain Trilk tapped a few times and said, "Probe is away." The group watched through the viewport as a miniature ship flew ahead and into the Gate. It disappeared immediately. Kazhan mentally counted down from 70 as he waited for the amount of time he expected the probe to take to traverse the bridge.
A few seconds after he hit zero the Captain said, "I am receiving information from the probe. We have clear space. Proceeding into the Gate."
Qarath grabbed the armrests on his seat tightly with his three-fingered hands and held his breath as he watched the Gate move closer on the viewport. Tiriffa - the female scientist on board - grinned as she watched him from the opposite row of seats. The ship entered the Gate and shot forward through the bridge in space between the endpoints of the Gate. The walls of the bridge had an odd lightshow effect from the light entering the bridge from the Gate on either end.
Captain Trilk said, "I always find it interesting that light in the bridge can travel faster than light."
Kazhan said, "Indeed. Have you ever traveled through a Gate created by a Gatemaker rather than a device?"
"No. Is it different?"
"The effect is generally the same, the Gatemaker I've used is able to shape the bridge between the gates to have a rectangular shape, and was also able to pull the far Gate closer somehow."
"Why did you choose a starship to travel rather than have them open it for you?"
"We need the sensors to scan for umbral energy. Also, we aren't certain if there are habitable planets nearby - it's likely that the fragment is caught in an elliptical orbit around the star. I expect a week of scans with the equipment we've attached to your sensor array."
"Understood. I am pleased you chose me to transport you there."
Kazhan smiled at him, his incisor fangs showed clearly.
The ship reached the second Gate and dropped back into normal space. Qarath began breathing again. Tiriffa smiled at him.
Tiriffa said, "The wonders of the umbra. Speaking of which, do you mind me asking what your ability is, Captain Trilk?"
Captain Trilk glanced back at her. "I can imbue a copy of a core ability into items. For example, if you can emit light I can imbue the power to emit light into an item. Anyone with an umbral gift can then make that item create light, although the intensity is set when I imbue it."
He began checking his displays for information on their new surroundings. Qarath noticed that the probe returned to the ship as he watched the activities of the captain.
"Interesting. Thank you for sharing."
"I do not often speak of it, but then again, I do not carry a team of scientists very often."
"Your purchase of the Selestor came at a good time for us."
The Captain nodded. "We are in a yellow class star system. Nine planets if you count the smallish one near the system boundary. We are just past the sixth planet - a gas giant with an interesting ring system. One moment ... I am detecting a variety of signals."
Kazhan stood and looked over the captain's shoulder. He said, "Signals? This isn't an occupied system."
Captain Trilk replied, "It may not have been, but I'm receiving a massive number of them - it's definitely not an outpost."
Kazhan asked, "That's not in any of our information. May I use your science station?"
Captain Trilk waved his hand at the seat to his left. "Please do. Does this change your mission?"
"No. We're here to study the fragment of the umbra that came to this system so long ago."
He shifted seats and began swiping his three claws above a display. "The signals are almost all coming from the third planet. It's more than habitable, this planet is exquisite. The rest appear to be probes - they are bound to the third planet, barring a tiny settlement on the fourth planet."
Captain Trilk said, "I will move us near the fourth planet. I am not seeing many satellites above it. We can scan for languages and learn the major ones."
Kazhan said, "Excellent idea. The core of the umbral energy appears to be around the third planet as well. It may be worthwhile to study some of the inhabitants to determine if they have been affected by it as well."
Rishan said, "I wonder how the meteor broke apart to become a field over a planet. This makes little sense."
Tiriffa said, "Of course it does, if it approached the planet, their defenses may have broken apart the meteor early enough to create this effect. Kazhan, if we detect the umbra from any inhabitants, may we plan an excursion onto the planet's surface?"
"It depends upon what the language analyzers decode. If they are overly primitive or dangerous we may have to perform all studies from orbit."
Captain Trilk said, "I am detecting no spacecraft around the planet, only satellites and a very basic orbiting station."
The scientist began configuring the systems to scan, analyze and decipher the data from the many broadcasts from the third planet.
The engine powered up and the ship darted toward the fourth planet of the system. Had they stayed a short while longer they would have detected the second ship emerging from the still-open Gate....
Preview Chapter 2 – Delivery
Third Person Perspective
Fargene Biotech primarily researched chemicals and drugs to cure a variety of diseases and genetic defects. As a company, it was a rising star in Metrocity, and its new facility in the southern part of Metrocity shone with blue reflective windows and gold-colored trim.
Doctor Cam Huntsbury led a small team studying fragments of the meteorite known to cause mutation in humans. In an effort to test a variety of animals, his large lab room had rows of cages of felines, canines, primates and rodents. His team had even gone so far as to break down the meteorite into various compounds and injected or fed them to a variety of test animals in his lab. To date, he’d had little luck causing any mutation in animals.
He was unaware of any spontaneous mutation of animals during any of the meteor showers, but there had to be some commonality between humans and animals to allow him to test what he believed was a form of radiation. Unfortunately, his team had not been successful in developing a means of detecting any unusual form of radiation from the ore. His team had taken to calling their suspected radiation ‘The Dark’ due to this believed property.
He turned as a team of men brought in his newest piece of test equipment. The large machine was labeled with Hyperion Tech's logo of a star inside the symbol of an atom. He clasped his hands together and smiled - he couldn't believe his fortune in being able to use the miniature nuclear reactor for an entire week. Cam believed that the missiles sent to stop the original large meteor had affected them with nuclear radiation and 'energized' the meteor, causing the mutations in humans seen during every meteor shower. He had convinced the Director to provide the funds for the rental of the equipment with that argument.
The men carefully positioned the large machine in the open area and began setting it up. One of the men set the heavily shielded container with the power source on a side table and walked over to help the others.
One of Cam’s assistants – Joel Nilbaum – turned and looked at Cam. “I still believe it’s the heat of re-entry that causes the generation of The Dark.”
Cam smiled, this was an ongoing argument. “I know. We can work up a set of experiments using heat after we try radiation. There weren’t many openings to get a hold of this reactor. If I hadn’t put in for it now we’d have had to wait months. Besides, we know the original meteor was hit by nuclear radiation when they blew it apart.”
Joel replied, “True – but then all the stuff that we’ve got here has already been irradiated. It gets extremely hot on the way down, and
that
is when it explodes.”
“Correct, but is that when the radiation affects people – at the time of those explosions? Or is it the initial proximity to the fragments as they near the planet?”
“That’s what we’re here to test, I suppose. I can’t believe they got a reactor down that small.”
“I agree. I believe Hyperion must have a super with unusual intelligence working for them.”
“I’m not sure I’d want to work for someone like that. I’d have no way of understanding how they got from point A to point B.”
“Assuming there is such a person, then the end result is the key, not how they get there – assuming it is reproducible.”
A man in a Hyperion Tech security uniform stepped into the room and looked around. He walked over to the case with the power source and moved it further away from a cage with a chimpanzee.
He glanced at Cam and Joel – they noticed that the guard’s eyes glowed slightly.
Joel elbowed Cam and whispered, “Cam, he’s a super.”
“I noticed. It doesn’t surprise me; they would want the best security when they transport this type of device.”
“Good point. You know, I wonder if he’s ever been directly exposed to the meteorite.”
Cam laughed, “You want to pull out a piece of rock and shove it in his hand? What kind of experiment would that be? We need a baseline first to study.”
“Well, it would be interesting. Not like they are dangerous anyway. They should be radioactive already, yet they aren’t. We need to start thinking outside the box.”
“All right, if the radioactivity study shows no results, and then after we do the heat based research if we still have nothing, then we’ll try to recruit some super test subjects and see what we can do from there.”
