MARZ | Book 1 | MARZ Read online

  MARZ

  MARZ SERIES

  Book One

  James Davis

  And

  James Aldridge

  Dark Days Press

  MAYFIELD, KENTUCKY

  Copyright © 2020 by James Davis and James Aldridge

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  James Davis and James Aldridge /Dark Days Press

  Mayfield, Kentucky

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  MARZ/MARZ Series-Book One/ James Davis and James Aldridge . -- 1st ed.

  ASIN : B08GZ6N194

  Cover Artist: Ommy Hudan

  Editor: Sara Miller

  Marketing/Publicist: Poised Pen Productions

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  From the Author

  Prologue

  May 21, 2023

  Truman home

  Denver, Colorado.

  Johnny Truman stepped through the ornate wooden door of his family’s Colorado home. He sat his backpack down next to the long staircase that led up to the second floor. Leaning over the handrail, he craned his neck upwards.

  “Mom, I’m home,” he shouted before heading into the kitchen. He opened the stainless-steel refrigerator and leaned forward to grab a can of soda from the glass shelf inside.

  “What are you doing home so early?” Lacy asked as she stepped into the kitchen and checked the Mickey Mouse watch strapped to her left wrist. Lacy Truman was a knockout of a woman. Her long strawberry blonde hair, cute features, and hourglass figure was the envy of almost every woman in town.

  “They let us out early since it's the last day of school,” Johnny replied as he went to set his drink down on the island countertop. The can slipped out of his hand and fell to the marble floor, knocking a hole in the thin metal. Dark brown liquid spewed from the can like a geyser and covered the floor around Johnny's feet. He stood there wide eyed for a long second before Lacy swooped in and snatched the almost empty can from the floor and tossed it into the sink.

  “Get the mop out of the storage closet, please,” Lacy said as she turned on the hot water and began filling up the deep well sink.

  “Grab the bleach too would ya?” She shouted over her shoulder to Johnny. He opened the storage closet door and grabbed the mop that hung from a rack on the inside of the door. Different types of cleaners sat on the shelves inside. Johnny reached past a bottle of Mean Green and a bottle of Pine sol, grabbing the white gallon jug of Clorox. He returned to the kitchen moments later with the requested items and then handed them to his mom. She poured a small amount of bleach into the steaming water and then dipped the mop head inside, swirling it around to mix up the bleach water. She pulled on a pair of yellow rubber gloves and then reached into the water to wring out the mop head. She slapped the mop down on the floor and started to clean up the mess. When she finished, she rinsed the mop and handed it back to Johnny along with the bleach. He returned the items where they had come from and then headed back to the kitchen.

  “Are you hungry, kiddo?” Lacy asked as she pulled out a package of turkey and a jar of mayonnaise.

  “I’m starving!” Johnny replied as his mouth started to water at the thought of the tasty sandwich. The sound of the front door opening got each of their attention as Johnny’s dad came in.

  “Honey, I’m home!” Barry Truman joked as he walked through the foyer and into the kitchen.

  “Hey, dad,” Johnny said from his seat. Lacy sat a plate down in front of him on the large cherrywood table. He immediately tore into it.

  “Want one?” She asked Barry as he sat down at the head of the table and stared at his beautiful wife.

  “Yea, if you’re having one,” Barry replied before turning his gaze to his son.

  “So, how was your last day of school?” He asked.

  “We got to come home early so it was good,” Johnny replied through a mouthful of sandwich. Barry chuckled and shook his head.

  “You’re back early too. How come?” Lacy asked as she sat a plat down in front of Barry and then rounded the table to her seat opposite of her husband.

  “You do realize I work right here on the ranch?” Barry asked. Lacy looked at him with a well-no- crap look on her face. Barry was a veterinarian. He had opened Truman Animal Hospital soon after they bought the property and moved in. People from all over Colorado brought their sick horses and cattle to Barry because he was said to be the best in the state. Shady Acres sat in a valley at the base of the mountains and they owned over 200 acres of the surrounding land. Barry had fenced in a large section of the homestead for the animals in his care to run around and graze in. He had hired hands that only had one job which was to keep wolves and other predators away from the animals.

  “Are you ready to go check out that cave?” Barry asked, taking a bite of his turkey sandwich. Johnny was busy playing on his phone and didn’t hear his dad's question. Barry cleared his throat loudly but still Johnny didn’t look up. Barry grabbed a dish towel from the table and chucked it across the table at his son. The towel hit Johnny in the forehead and draped down over his face. He flinched and glared up at his dad.

  “You just made me lose!” Johnny whined. Barry chuckled .

  “Are you ready to check out that cave you keep telling me about or not?” He asked as he finished his last bite of sandwich.

  “What cave?” Lacy asked.

  “Our son found a cave at the base of the mountains. I’ve been meaning to go explore it with him but I haven’t had the time until today,” Barry explained. Lacy gave a slow nod as she looked at her son waiting for him to reply to his father. Finally, he shut off the phone and looked up.

  “Really? We can go today?” Johnny said excitedly.

  “Go get your hiking boots on and we’ll go now,” Barry said, pushing back from the table. He stepped around the table and wrapped Lacy up in his arms, kissing her multiple times.

  “Be very careful out there and make sure you are home in time for dinner,” Lacy said, pointing a serious finger at Barry and then Johnny.

  “Yes, ma’am.” They each replied in unison.

  “Good. Now go have fun,” Lacy added as she hugged them both and moved to gather up the dirty plates. Twenty minutes later, they were stepping out of the back door to the large open fields of their property. Tall green and yellow grass swayed lazily in the light breeze as they trekked forward. Birds sang in the distant trees and a crow squawked from its perch on a fence post. Several hawks circled overhead as the two made their way out to the edge of the property. Rocks crunched under their feet as they walked up the last small hill to the base of the
mountain.

  “Alright, I’ll go first and then pull you up after,” Barry said as he took off his pack. He had brought bottles of water, flashlights and a few other supplies in the pack that would make their trip a little easier. Barry tossed the pack up on the overhanging rock ledge and then jumped up, grabbing the ledge to pull himself up. He was a fit man and was used to doing pull ups and other exercises so this was a simple task for him. Once he got over the ledge he got down on a knee and let his arm hang down past the ledge so Johnny could grab his hand when he jumped. Johnny stepped back a few steps and lunged forward, jumping at the last minute. At the height of his jump, he grabbed Barry’s hand and held on tight as his dad pulled him up. Small loose rocks dug into Barry's arm as he pulled his son up, leaving long scratches in his forearm. He got Johnny over the ledge and then brushed off his arms and legs before shouldering the pack and helping Johnny to his feet.

  “Ready?” Barry asked after pulling two lights from his pack.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Johnny replied. They switched on their lights and stepped into the mouth of the cave. It was big. Big enough for them both to stand side by side and still not touch the damp walls. They could hear the sound of water dripping as they moved deeper into the damp cave. Jagged edges made up the walls and small chunks of broken rock lay scattered all over the ground as they made their way deeper into the pitch-black cavern.

  “HELLO!” Johnny shouted. Hello, Hello, Hello, his voice echoed back from deep inside the cave. They shined their lights toward the end of the corridor. It opened up into a massive chamber almost as big as a football field. Stalactites and stalagmites reached out from the floor and ceiling like a giant's long pointy fingers waiting for its next victim. Several of the things touched and formed a pillar while others lay broken on the floor in big chunks.

  “Minerals in the water dripping down over hundreds of thousands of years form these things,” Barry explained as they continued through the maze of pointy formations. They were shining their lights up to the ceiling as they moved deeper inside. They were almost to the back of the chamber when Johnny's foot caught on something sending him sprawling to the floor in a heap. Barry shined his light to the floor as he moved to help his son back up but stopped in his tracks when he spotted the booted leg poking out from the other side of a stalagmite.

  “What is that dad?” Johnny said, sitting up to stare at the human like thing that was stuck in the growth of a stalagmite. The formation covered the things left shoulder and arm before wrapping around its chest and stomach. The legs stuck straight out from the formation and its right arm hung down limply from its shoulder and its helmeted head lay cocked to the right as it sat leaning back on the formation. It had been there long enough for the minerals to build up all around its torso.

  “This can’t be right. This thing would have had to be here for thousands of years in order for this to grow around it like this,” Barry said as he squatted in front of it. He could barely see the edge of some sort of odd symbols on an exposed part of the things suit. He looked closer at the suit and how it was made but it didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before. It looked like it was made from a type of rubber stretchy material but had what he thought was metal stitching interlaced all throughout the suit. The helmet looked like it was part of the suit with no visible way to remove it like it was just all one big piece.

  “Dad what is it?” Johnny asked as he got up and moved in next to his dad.

  “I don’t have a clue. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Barry replied. He leaned forward and wiped a thick coat of grime away from what they assumed was the helmet. He tapped the end of his flashlight on the face of the helmet. It sounded exactly like tapping metal on metal.

  Transparent metal?” Barry said with excitement as he rubbed away more of the dirt to reveal the occupant inside of the suit. A skeleton with human-like features peered back at him with empty eye sockets. The top of the skull was flared out roughly ten percent larger than a regular human and the lower half of the skull seemed to taper down to a rounded point where a human's chin would be. A line down the outside of the arms and legs had a repeating set of symbols that Barry guessed was the name of the things ship or mission that had brought it to Earth so long ago.

  “What does his suit say?” Johnny asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

  “I have no clue but it definitely doesn’t look like any language I’ve ever seen before,” he said, taking his phone out of his pocket. He unlocked the phone and thumbed through the apps menu until he found the one he was searching for. Tapping the camera icon, he gave a short nod and then held the phone to snap a picture. The screen showed nothing but the glare from their headlamps.

  “Need to turn on the flash.” Barry mumbled under his breath as he thumbed through the camera's settings. Johnny continued to kneel in front of the lifeless being investigating the crazy looking symbols that lined the sleeves and pant legs of the suit. The symbols looked to be some kind of ancient hieroglyphs but there was no way he could be certain.

  “Watch out!” Barry said, startling Johnny and making him jump back.

  “What’s the matter? Think he’s going to turn into a zombie and eat you?” he said, snapping several pictures from different angles. Johnny laughed nervously.

  “Ha, ha, very funny,” he said as he watched his dad snap a few more pictures up close. Johnny spotted something in glare from the flash of the camera and shouted.

  “Dad, look!” He quickly moved over to the spaceman and shined his light down at the left side of the thing where the corner of what looked to be a tablet protruded from the overgrown stalagmite. Barry looked down at him with a scowl.

  “Was that really necessary?” Barry asked.

  “Look,” Johnny said again, more urgently this time as he pointed a finger at the corner of the object. Barry craned his neck to see it just as Johnny’s hand shot forward and tore it free from its tomb. It came lose surprisingly easily, sending small chunks of stalagmite falling to the floor. Johnny knocked the rest of the hardened minerals free from its smooth shiny surface and then flipped it over in his hands a few times inspecting every detail. It was about the same size as an iPhone only twice as thick and seemed to be built in a similar fashion. The back was made out of some type of metal and the front looked to be the same transparent metal type of stuff the visor of the suit was made of. He used his thumb to press down on the screen and watched as it flexed inward. When he removed his thumb, the screen popped up and out of the metal base into a thin rectangle shaped box no bigger than the box an iPhone would have come in.

  Johnny studied the inside of it and noticed a small circular piece fixed to the bottom.

  “Let me see that,” Barry ordered, a hint of annoyance in his tone as he held out his hand.

  “Next time don’t just start grabbing stuff, anything could have happened when you did that,” he said, turning the object over in his hand.

  “Any idea what it might be?” Johnny asked.

  “I doubt it's so simple, but it very well may be some kind of communication device,” he replied, flipping it over to look at the bottom side. He noticed a small “V” shaped port and brought it up closer to his face to inspect it.

  “Strange. It almost seems like it's a charging port. There's no way.” Barry muttered before bringing his phone up to it and snapping a few more pictures. He knelt down in front of his pack and stuffed the object inside of a handkerchief and then into a zipper pouch on the side. He stood up and turned to look at his son who was still standing there stunned at their unexpected discovery.

  “Come on. Let's get back home and give the college a call,” Barry said, turning to go back out the way they had come in as he stuffed the device into a pocket. Johnny shouldered his own pack and fell in behind his dad. An hour later they were back at their home looking up the number for University of Colorado.

  “Y’all hungry?” Lacy asked from the kitchen door.

  “What's f
or dinner?” Johnny asked.

  “Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn and baked beans,” Lacy replied with a smile. Barry was too preoccupied to even think about dinner as he stood at the sliding back door staring through the glass at the mountains where the cave was located. The sky was a mixture of red, orange, yellow and purple as the sun crept toward the horizon. He was thinking about how to tell a professor what they had found without sounding like a complete lunatic. He decided that just coming out with the exact details would be sufficient. He did have plenty of pictures to send after all so he tapped the call icon and brought the phone up to his ear. He started to nervously tap his foot as he waited for the call to connect. Six rings later a thick Southern accented voice sounded through the phone.

  Doc Winters here, Department of Science & Archaeology. How can I help you?

  Chapter One

  3:55 p.m. July 3, 2048

  Kennedy Space Center,

  Cape Canaveral, Florida.

  "Terminating the mission?" Johnny exclaimed, jumping from his chair "Wha--- How--- Terminating the mission?" He reiterated, unable to find any other words.

  "I'm sorry, Johnny, it's above my head, it seems we just aren't producing results as quickly as they would like," The round man replied, anxiously brushing a lock of grey hair from his forehead and looking up at Johnny.

  "We're close, I know we are! Can't you stall them, we just need a little more time," Johnny pleaded.

  "I did what I could, but my hands are tied here. They aren't willing to spend any more of our already tapped budget hunting for things that may not even exist," the man replied.

  "So that's that? It's just over?" Johnny asked, struggling to corral his emotions with everything he had.

  "I know this is hard to hear, this being your pet project and all," the man started.

  "Pet project?" Johnny scoffed. "How about life goals, Arthur. I spent years exploring those caves and looking up at the sky with my dad, searching for clues. He had to take out a second mortgage to pay for college, just so I could end up here. And now you're telling me it was for nothing, Art," he said, slumping back into his chair across the desk from his boss.