Crimson: The Second in the Trinity Series Novels Read online
CRIMSON
The Second Trinity Series Novel by C. G. Blade
Co-written by Cad Gelb
Edited by Cindy Calloway
Cover illustrated by Katerina Ventova
Copyright © 2015 C G Blade
All rights reserved.
ASIN: B0192LHL5E
This is a fictional work. The names, characters, incidents, places, and locations are solely the concepts and products of the author’s imagination or are used to create a fictitious story and should not be construed as real.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations, reviews, and articles.
Content
CRIMSON
The second Trinity Series Novel by C. G. Blade
FOREWORD
Chapter1 COMPATIBLE
Chapter 2 UNSALVAGEABLE
Chapter 3 ABOMINABLE
Chapter 4 TWISTABLE
Chapter 5 INFALLABLE
Chapter 6 ABSORBABLE
Chapter 7 MULTIPLE
Chapter 8 FLEXIBLE
Chapter 9 VUNERABLE
Chapter 10 COLLAPSIBLE
Chapter 11 TRANSFORMABLE
Chapter 12 MANEUVERABLE
Chapter 13 DISCOVERABLE
Chapter 14 IMPERCEIVABLE
Chapter 15 REPREHENSIBLE
Chapter 16 INELUCTABLE
Chapter 17 ACCOUNTABLE
Chapter 18 CRACKABLE
Chapter 19 INJECTABLE
Chapter 20 ROTATABLE
Chapter 21 SECURABLE
Chapter 22 SALVAGABLE
Chapter 23 UNIMAGINABLE
Chapter 24 BREACHABLE
Chapter 25 SUSTAINABLE
Chapter 26 VERIFIABLE
Chapter 27 SUSPENDABLE
Chapter 28 RECYCLABLE
Chapter 29 DELIVERABLE
Chapter 30 CONNECTABLE
Chapter 31 DECEIVABLE
COBALT-Book One of The Trinity Series
The Author
FOREWORD
I have been a science fiction fan, SF bookseller, and authenticator for many years. I met CG Blade because of a mutual love of the art and because we are both avid Philip Dick fans. I was looking for a good science fiction quote to be included. This one stood out.
“I think Dr. Willis McNelly at the California State University at Fullerton put it best when he said that the true protagonist of a sf story or novel is an idea and not a person. If it is ‘good’ sf the idea is new, it is stimulating, and, probably most important of all, it sets off a chain-reaction of ramification-ideas in the mind of the reader; it so-to-speak unlocks the reader’s mind so that the mind, like the author’s, begins to create. Thus sf is creative and it inspires creativity, which mainstream fiction by-and-large does not do. We who read sf (I am speaking as a reader now not as a writer), read it because we love to experience this chain-reaction of ideas being set off in our minds by something we read, something with a new idea in it. Hence the very best since fiction ultimately winds up being a collaboration between author and reader, in which both create and enjoy doing it: joy is the essential and final ingredient of science fiction, the joy of discovery of newness.”
― Philip K. Dick
This quote describes Christopher's writing to a tee. Once I picked up Cobalt, I could not put it down. I think his work is in the style of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series, with the imagination of Phil Dick thrown in! I have read the first draft of Crimson. Crimson is better than Cobalt. I am anxiously awaiting this finished product. If you ever dreamed of "getting in on the ground floor", to read and know an author destined to be a master in the field, and then get on board. All my life I have talked to people that have been friends with, have corresponded with, have partied with the old greats such as Asimov, Heinlein, Ellison. I consider myself extremely lucky to consider Christopher my friend. Read Cobalt and Crimson, and you will see what I am talking about in his writing.
― Charles Verner
Chapter1
COMPATIBLE
She lifted her head up off the pillow and took a long stare around the room. Nothing here seemed familiar. Where was she?
“Hello Petra.”
“Ter…?”
“Yes Petra. It would be proper to ask you how you are doing but I already know the answer to that question.”
“Ter where am I?”
“You are in Cobalt in the Med Lab facility in Meredith being monitored by Dr. Siebert and Dr. Sanders. Your jacchrbyte memory storage upgrade was a success.”
“How long—”
“Today is October the 10th, 2076 a Saturday. You have been resting peacefully since May18th, 2076 that was a Monday. That is equal to 4 months and 22 days or 145 days to be exact.”
“Some things never change.”
“A lot has changed Petra. Jackie would like you to walk down to the dock on the beach.”
“So I’m not in the same shitty old cabin anymore?”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha you said shitty ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.”
“Oh no.”
“Yes Petra. Jackie has installed a humor.wav file with various input and output responses on it. She has also upgraded my sarcastic retorts.”
“Like I said oh no.”
Petra was in a beach house. It was a giant one-room house sitting on wooden stilts overlooking the sand and the ocean. The interior of the house was white with warm pastels and shades of dark blue hues accented with silver. The bed she was in had hanging white sheer fabric swaying from the top of the bedposts. The windows were open to the sea and she could hear the waves crashing against the rocks and sand every couple of seconds. She could smell the warm salty ocean breeze as it wafted through the room blowing the white curtains and soft fabric around.
“Wow we’ve really upgraded quite a bit since the cabin in the woods.”
“Yes Petra this is something the programming techs came up with this past summer. A new programmer Jackie hired that calls herself Amanda is working on your upgrades.”
Petra looked herself up and down. She had on a dark blue floral sarong hanging at the waist over her Cobalt bikini, her silky blonde hair pulled back with a blue ribbon and a blue pulsating and glowing Hibiscus over her left ear. Walking over to a mirror, she admired her new upgrade. “Wow they really did improve a lot since May.”
Stepping towards a wooden door facing the ocean she pulled on the glass knob door handle. As it opened, her face met with the warm clean ocean air. There was endless blue sea with tan and brown sand stretching for miles in either direction in front of her. Thatches of tall grass, jutting rocks and stones intertwined the beach leading out to the clear blue water. The misty air swallowed her up as she stepped off the house’s wooden ladder onto the sand below it. Her toes and feet sank into the wet sand. Something began to guide her down the beach parallel with the ocean’s white crested foam. In the distance, Petra spotted a white dock with a small sailboat moored to its wooden planks. She boarded the craft and it propelled itself with its own unique mystical power. The craft cut through the water as she sailed away from the shore. There were no sails or engine powering the craft. She spotted other boats on the horizon but hers was heading towards another similar sailboat that was getting closer to her. She strained her eyes to focus and eventually made out a human form. The occupant of the boat came into focus. He was wearing green board shorts and a white tank top. She now could clearly see details of his silhouette. He was well built and probably in his 30’s or early 40’s. His hair was dark black and he sported a short buzz cut.
“J
im?” Petra yelled to him. She focused on him until the two small boats were sitting side by side.
“Petra!” The two of them locked eyes, smiling at each other.
“How are you here with me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ter what’s going on?”
“Petra your Cobalt tanks are now docked and handshaking with each other by satellite link inside the Med Lab. You are in Jim’s version of paradise inside his mind. Jackie and the team came up with this concept to introduce similar subjects to each other during their recuperation over the summer. The past files show it aids in rebuilding and assists in faster development of replacement organs and limbs. Simply put, you are not alone anymore in a virtual universe going through shock while you are re-growing in Cobalt. Other subjects can be reintroduced to aid in one’s recovery and walk a subject through the entire process.”
“So Jim is in his tank and I’m in mine?”
“Yes.”
Petra was giving Cooper the once over. He was younger and fit.
“How do you feel Jim?”
“I—guess okay?”
“Ter is he okay?”
“Yes Petra. His surgery in May was not a success. Jackie and Emily had to wait until we developed a new programming process that aided in his organ replacement therapy. You did not need new organs just limbs but Jim needed a new heart and lungs. Jim rejected the new organs the first time until new code was developed and new subroutines were written to infuse the Cobalt solution into the new replacement organs. He is now as humans say, “fit as a fiddle”.”
“Who says that?”
“It is an idiom from the 1600s.”
“Okay Ter lets stay up to date.”
“Yes Petra.” Ter replied in perfect sarcastic demeanor.
“Wow that is a lot of sarcasm I hear in your voice.”
“Yes Petra. It was added in addition to my humor output files.”
“Jackie and I need to have a serious talk. Ter, is Jim done with his training? How long has he been here?”
“He has been sitting in this craft at this beach for 54 days, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 23 seconds interfacing with other candidates in the program.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me?”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha you said shitting ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.”
“JACKIE!” Petra was cupping her hands together hoping Jackie could hear her desperate cries for help in the real world and would erase Ter’s newly formed humor from her code. Her words echoed back to her.
“Ter does Jim have an upgrade?”
“Yes Petra. He is compatible with your upgrade in every sense of the word. You both have the ability to communicate and handshake with each other outside of these tanks in the real world through satellite link. He has the duplicate hardware and software version 2.0 you now carry as well.”
“Where is his version of Terprise and her voice modulator? Can he communicate with it? I don’t hear it.”
“It is currently turned off. He cannot go through the weapons training with you here by his side. You are here to help guide him to it and talk him through the process. When Jackie wakes and stimulates you she will start Jim’s Terprise and his Cobalt training will begin.”
“Jim?”
“Yes Petra?”
She looked into his eyes. He seemed like he was a shell of his former self and maybe he was just an image. “You are doing great. You have to go now and train and become faster stronger and smarter. You will be able to eat whenever and whatever you want from now on. You will never gain weight ever again.”
“Yes I know. I don’t have a disease.”
He winked at her. He was still in there somewhere.
“You know Petra this is where I grew up, here on the California coast. My father was always out to sea but my mother loved the beach and the surf. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t become like her—a hippie so to speak.”
“I never realized you could remember that amount of detail. I didn’t think it was possible in this tank the first time I went through it.”
“You haven’t seen the best part Petra. That is yet to come. Everything we have done our whole lives is just a memory. Where do those memories go? Why do we care so much about them? What makes us hold on to them so dearly? Can we have philosophical discussions about that and still be a functioning entity?”
“Jim are you okay?”
“Yes Petra I am going through some—I have been and always shall be your…”
He was gone. He just vanished.
“Ter where’s Jim?”
“You’re being disconnected from Cobalt and lifted out of your tank Petra. Goodbye.”
In a matter of seconds, Cooper was in a field of green grass with towering wind generators dodging drones and insurgents. His version of Terprise 2.0 was more efficient and more up-to-date than Petra’s was at this point in her training. His armor was a phosphorescent emerald plated with swirling drab olive green that resembled late 19th century Army camouflage.
***
Outside of the tanks, in the control room, Jackie was at the helm again. She was orchestrating the next phase of human evolution like a conductor at a symphony in perfect harmony with her surroundings. Everyone in the room was in rhythm with her and a new sound began to emerge. It was a beautiful piece called Petra 2.0 and it was magnificent.
“Put her in depress and start the gravity withdrawal.”
“Okay Jackie here we go.” Amanda replied with a proud grin swiping crystal screens in front of her. The colorful touchscreens were lit up with a cobalt hue that radiated off their faces.
“Tori will you please give the chefs a heads-up and make sure they have enough Twinkies in stock? Please talk to them personally. I know how frustrated they get.”
“Yes, Dr. Siebert.” Tori scooted out of her chair and headed out of the room towards the elevators.
Jackie was checking over Petra’s programming and vitals on the screens in front of her with Emily standing by her side. “I think we’re going to leave the humor inputs and outputs alone for now Amanda, let’s see what happens in real time. We can delete that string of code later on.”
“Yes Jackie but—” Amanda Little was Jackie’s newest top programmer from the University of Tennessee’s prestigious TIT and she was hired over the summer to assist in programming new code. The Tennessee Institute of Technology was to many in the nation the school for quantum molecular programmers now “—do you really think she is going to like that? I mean all the laughing and stuff in her head? I think it would become annoying over time.”
“You know what they say.”
“What?”
“Comedy is hard, dying is easy. Let’s focus on finishing programming the upgrades and the drone codes Ray asked for.”
Hoisted out of her tank, Petra’s shapely and exquisite form dripped fragrant gel that ran off her skin like ice melting slowly off a house in spring. Her drenched Cobalt streaked hair was hanging off her head and had grown over two feet longer during her stay over the summer. She was also in need of a good leg and armpit shaving.
“I should really get some stock in Twinkies,” Jackie murmured, “I think it’s going to be a long cold winter.”
Chapter 2
UNSALVAGEABLE
October 19th 4:04 PM 19 Days Later - Hawaii Standard Time
Crimson spat hot lava on Cobalt from her slithering, split tongue. Cobalt was now staring up at her as she was hanging from a jagged black rock by three fingers. A vicious adversary blocked the beautiful brilliant sun in the sky above. Crimson leaned over the edge of the volcanic Halema’uma’a crater inside of the Kilauea caldera on the eastern side of the big island of Hawaii with her arms crossed against her ample chest. Her nostrils were flared up as her eyes were fixed on the helpless creature she was about to watch plummet to its morbid funeral pyre. The blacktopped lava lake below had smoky white blistering plumes bellowing out of its fissures and cracks. Cobalt was straining to hang onto the inside of the scorch
ing rocky edge of the crater by her failing left hand. She produced a Glock 11 out of her right palm and began firing shot after shot up at Crimson staring down at her. The bullets missed their target as Crimson stood firm swerving her upper torso, dodging each bullet in succession. The fiery hot magma was spitting out lava chunks and bombs of liquid death, emitting sulfurous and gaseous smells. The orange and yellow glow cast a shadow over her as she felt herself getting weaker and weaker by the second, trying to grasp onto life one more time. Just one more precious second was all she—needed. Crimson watched Cobalt lose her battle and her grip as she labored one last time but finally lost her grip. She bounced over the jagged steamy boiling rocks on her way to the tomb of the sweltering molten crater.
“I’m just not feeling the love here—bitch!” Crimson had a sneer on her red flushed lips as she flipped Cobalt off and saluted her in one final act of defiance. She moaned aloud aggressively rubbing her loins, breasts, and midsection getting some sort of perverse sexual satisfaction out of her transgression. Crimson’s irises ignited like intense glowing torches and her skeletal joints lit up like golden robotic swiveling hinges as she flexed them, leaking and seeping lava. The long beautiful rubicund locks of hair that spread out over her head and shoulders were a vibrant phosphorous disruptive contrast against her yellow joints. Fins resembling dorsal appendages made of luminous gilded indigo traveled from the top of her shoulder blades down to the last bone above her spine. Resembling ancient plated armor, they ended just above the curves in her breathtakingly stunning buttocks. Crimson had curves in places other women didn’t even have places. She was the most voluptuous and sexually awakened creature that God himself loathed. The devil had opened Pandora’s Box and created Crimson from the wrath of its own tormented flesh and desires that burned from the inside of an ancient diseased brain. The ring that was the Ouroboros started to burn brighter as the Cobalt font tattooed inside of it was starting to dim and slowly disappear from her upper arm.