[scifan] plantation 06 - plantations origins Read online

  He closed his eyes and summoned the elemental energy within. His fingertips tingled. Sparks of light jumped out of his clammy palms and quickly converted into dry ice.

  His energy field was back, though barely. He’d have to do better if he wanted to escape this metal cage.

  The sight of a three-edged sword crest engraved in the wall stopped him in his tracks. Reality sank in. He was no longer on Earth. He was onboard a Lagerian star ship.

  It must be a dream after all.

  Except for the whirring sound behind him. He spun around. His spine buzzed as the door slid open. Fluorescent lights switched on. He knew the faces that appeared. The pointy ears on bald heads, the unblemished, lightly gray skin, the broad shoulders… he knew these features. They were tall and strong and healthy, but there was no question about it. The two newcomers were Lagerian overlords. The Nalok kind of lord—not the shrunken, withered kind that answered to Eldaria and ran the plantation system.

  “We trust you are not unwell,” one of the lords said. The voice was strained and unnatural, trying hard to imitate human language.

  Eric studied the insignias on their jackets and the tiny comm devices clipped to their collars, a language dictation mechanism. It helped the Lagerians speak fluently in languages they had not fully mastered.

  “We have used an electromagnetic magnifier to neutralize your energy reserves. The effect is not permanent. Your hybrid skills are impressive,” the other lord said. His tone projected more confidence than the first lord.

  “How?” was all Eric managed to utter. He was unsure what to ask first. How he ended up there? How they neutralized him? How they even existed?

  “Your questions must be many. We will tell you all you seek. We survived by entering cryostasis within hibernation pods. They were designed to survive travel through wormholes and time.” He became almost melancholic, his eyes straying to the ceiling. “We slumbered for twelve-thousand Earth Sun cycles. Longer than expected. The system did not properly activate.”

  Eric felt suddenly lightheaded and sat on the bed.

  “When we awoke,” his captor continued, “we found a message from Nalok, the Lord of all Lagerians, Celestial Emperor and General Supreme. He detailed the story of Earth. He led us to you, the hybrid.”

  The other Lagerian bowed. “Forgive any impertinence on our part, son of Nalok. We hope you do not find the manner of our invitation unacceptable.”

  His words penetrated Eric’s skull, slamming into his growing rage. He glared at the two Lagerians. “In no world would drugging and caging someone on a spacecraft be considered an invitation.”

  The one in command lowered his eyes. “In these dark times, it was a regretful necessity. Time is coming to an end.”

  “You are in grave danger,” the second lord added. “Both of you.”

  Eric stood up to glance at them warily. He already knew the rest.

  “Take me to her.”

  CHAPTER 7

  FREYA

  Her head throbbed. Something restricted the movement of her hands. Rope? Chains? She couldn’t see. It was pitch black. She was lying on something soft—a small bed or large cushions.

  But how?

  The sound of a sliding door put her heart on alert mode. She drew out her electric charge, lighting up the room with pulsating, blue beams.

  Nothing was familiar—not the bed, not the desk, not the bizarre sword-crest on the wall, and certainly not the strange materials with which everything was made.

  She directed her energy field downward to free herself. Narrow beams sizzled through the tight cuffs around her wrists like hot metal through flesh.

  Once free, she fine-tuned her energy to provide a canopy of light.

  The chill in the room penetrated her bones. “We’ve been betrayed,” she whispered, not quite sure how she knew that. The only certainty was that none of this was good.

  Her face glowed with rage under the blue light born out of her own hands. The situation became crystal clear. The Dark Legion had turned against their human allies—had turned against her, in fact. They figured out a way to deactivate the receptor. But why kidnap her? Why not just kill her?

  Kroll was gone or, worse, orchestrating the insurgence. This was the stuff nightmares were made of. Right now, the most powerful and dangerous army to have ever walked the earth was roaming free in Spring Town, leaderless and out of control, while she was imprisoned, powerless and unable to intervene.

  The fighter in her rose to the surface. She could feel her cheeks and forehead and fingers growing warmer. Freya jumped onto her feet and glared at the door just before it slid open.

  A sizzling sword of fire formed in her right hand.

  Fluorescent lights switched on as a tall, slim humanoid with female features entered. She took one look at Freya’s fierce stance and ran from the room, dropping a tray with food and water on her way out.

  The door slid shut. Freya was alone again, but still eager for a fight.

  “It will take more than that,” she murmured under her breath, turning her energy into a sparkling fireball that could burn through steel and granite and, surely, through those walls.

  The rush she felt behind her breastbone was hard to control. Her captors obviously hadn’t realized she could create energy fields with her bare hands.

  Who the hell were these captors? The one who dropped the tray was such a strange-looking creature. Were they another species of aliens? That would be just her luck. And the Dark Legion aligning with them… great.

  It didn’t matter. She molded the fireball, shrinking it down to the most dense, powerful energy stream she could manage with her bare hands. She’d escape her cage and destroy any alien species that got in her way.

  The door slid open again. She stared at the person who entered in disbelief.

  “Eric,” she said. “What the—” Her blue energy withered down to a spark.

  “Good to see you, too,” he said with a grin, taking her in his arms.

  His power and warmth sunk into her bones, calming her rage.

  Eric held her face in his hands. “You okay?”

  She shook her head as he let go. His eyes flew around the small chamber before returning to her.

  Freya took a step back. “You better start talking,” she said, swiping away his hand that lingered on her shoulder. “What the hell happened in that field?”

  He acknowledged her frustration. “You won’t like it.”

  “How could I possibly like it, Eric?”

  Eric closed his eyes. “I failed you.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t depend on men to protect me.”

  Distress lurked behind Eric’s eyes as he opened them. “Perhaps we’ve become complacent.”

  “It’s about what we do now,” she said. “There’s no time for regret.”

  “I should have come to you. I knew something was off. I felt it.”

  “Eric, please. Tell me what you mean and let’s get out of here.”

  “That might prove difficult. We’re not on Earth, or any other planet for that matter.”

  “I hope you’re kidding,” she said, but deep down suddenly knew his words were true. She had been on a wandering spacecraft before. The signs were all there—the hollow feeling in her stomach and the faint hum of vents replenishing the air with fresh oxygen.

  “We were fooled,” Eric went on. “The whole business about Kroll leaving and then the intruder—it must have all been a scheme.”

  Her eyes scrutinized him. “So, Kroll was or was not involved?” A murmur of hope echoed in her voice. She’d been struggling to come to terms with a possible Kroll betrayal.

  “I don’t have the answer to that. The tall creature we saw in the field was not human, that’s for sure. I knew it even before he multiplied.”

  “That’s not something you see every day,” Freya said.

  “No, and by the time we knew what was happening, those things had cast strong magnetic fields all around us. We could
not deflect their assault. That was powerful stuff, Freya. I lost consciousness. I’ve never felt anything like that, a dark veil suddenly masking my vision.”

  Freya waved her hands in front of his face to stop him. “Wait, back up a little. What do you mean he multiplied?”

  Eric arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t see it?”

  “I saw one man or whatever the hell he was. Then you went pale and began to stumble around. When I tried to use the receptor, it failed me for the second time in a day.”

  “The second time?”

  “Yeah, it also failed when the Sliman attacked Damian and me.”

  “Why didn’t you mention that?”

  “There was no time, Eric.” For all his wisdom, he could really be frustrating.

  “Listen,” Eric redirected, “we’re on a massive Lagerian cargosphere, modified to be some sort of transport to preserve Lagerian life over long periods of time.”

  “Lagerians?” Freya repeated, a bit dazed.

  “I know. And there’s a lot of them. Even worse, they’ve just begun to adapt to the conditions of our star system. Soon they’ll be at full capacity.”

  The room spun as her heart raced. “What are you saying?”

  “This is no time to panic. I need you focused.”

  Her mouth felt dry. She stared longingly at the water the alien guard had spilled when she fled the room. “How do you know all this, Eric?”

  “They told me. Not in so many words, but it wasn’t hard to fill in the blanks.”

  “This is like one of your bonfire stories,” she observed, trying to distance herself from the obvious implications. Long gone were the days when Eric was a mysterious mountain man spinning strange stories by fire light. She knew now he was so much more than a wildling with too much knowledge.

  Eric ignored her reminiscence. Instead, he leaned in and took her by the shoulders. “I don’t know if there is a connection with the Sliman attack, but there’s something larger happening.”

  “Larger than a cargosphere filled with resurrected enemies?”

  “Afraid so.”

  “Oh, and you forgot to mention the bit about their tech being more advanced and able to deactivate my receptor from a distance. Are we going to have to fight them all over again?”

  Eric hesitated. “Not sure. I don’t think so.”

  “You know what? I saw one of them,” Freya said. “She did not seem entirely alien.”

  “You mean she was not Lagerian?”

  “I prefer calling them aliens. They tortured and enslaved us. They don’t deserve a specific name.”

  “You never saw them the way they used to be. I have. These are Lagerians who have not been touched by time. They’ve been preserved in stasis. To their minds, the horrors of the plantations never happened.”

  “If they don’t know about the plantations, how did they find us?”

  “They were briefed through recordings after they woke. What’s important is that they will not take us by surprise. Not this time.”

  “I notice you use the word us. Do you now consider yourself human? You hid from that for quite a while the first time around.”

  Eric furrowed his brow. “I expect better from you, Freya.”

  “But it’s true, Eric. You are half-alien… sorry, half-Lagerian.”

  “I’m just me. And me is on your side.”

  “Me is on our side?

  “I’m on your side,” Eric said, exasperated. “You know what I meant.”

  “You’re on the human side?”

  “Sure, or the Freya side, or whatever side will help you get back to being serious for a minute.”

  He was right. She was playing word games to again distance herself from the truth that would both enrage and terrify her. She was also unfair. Eric had proven himself too many times to count.

  She followed his gaze to the scorched sheets on the bed.

  “I see they didn’t realize you can control your energy without a sensory receptor,” he said pensively.

  “They didn’t, but they do now.”

  “As for me, I guess they found my weakness.”

  “Maybe it’s good you learned you have one.”

  “When did I learn that?” He grinned.

  “You’re hopeless. I can’t believe I let someone take my receptor again.”

  “Actually…” Eric reached into his pocket. “They gave it back.” He pulled out Freya’s sensory receptor. “It’s not working. My own powers don’t either.”

  She placed both hands on his chest. “That’s okay. We’ll use mine.”

  She rubbed her palms together. Energy pulses skipped along her spine until her hands formed high-energy crystals that rose and glittered above their heads. The crystals dissolved into a misty purple shield. “This will protect us. We’ll force them to take us back.”

  Eric grabbed her hands, extinguishing the energy field instantly.

  “What the hell, Eric?” she said, frustrated by the fact that he could do that so easily. His strength was fathomless.

  Eric sighed as he gazed into her eyes. “Freya, you have to stop abusing your source. It’s finite. It will wear down eventually and you with it.”

  “I know what I can handle.”

  He laughed. “No, that’s one power you don’t have.”

  She pushed him, stubbornly, and quickly summoned all her body’s electrical resources which synthesized at her fingertips to form a massive cyclone of energy. She had never dared to conjure such a firestorm without the safety of the receptor’s buffering apparatus.

  The floor quaked as electromagnetic rays sizzled and hummed.

  Freya ignored Eric’s displeasure and marched out of the room. When she rounded a corner, she came face-to-face with a Lagerian lord dressed in a black and gold uniform.

  Freya lifted her lethal load of light as high as she could, poised to strike.

  The Lagerian lord didn’t flinch. If anything, he was curious. He flashed a silver receptor which instantly shrouded him in a misty shield of his own.

  CHAPTER 8

  ERIC

  The long passageway lit up as Freya’s colossal electric beams gnawed at the Lagerian’s flimsy shield, seeking to devour it. The sizzling sound of the two forces clashing spread throughout the cargosphere.

  Watching Freya’s frenzied attack mesmerized Eric. Bolts and circuits popped loudly like firecrackers when her energy field whizzed down the corridor. The dark skies of the universe reverberated with the return of the Shadow Empire’s most dangerous rebel.

  Eric resurfaced as if from a spell. He placed his hand on her back. “Freya, that’s enough!”

  His hand moved down along her spine, shrinking the dense buildup of her energy particles until they disappeared completely. Freya shivered, startled. Her bones ached. Her breathing became labored as she turned to glare at him.

  He knew it was a violation to interrupt another’s energy reserves. It could potentially hurt the wielder of the force field, but it was a necessary risk. Waging a war against their captors would be far more damaging.

  “Freya,” he repeated with his voice so low she barely heard him. “There are more uses to your power than violence.”

  The Lagerian lord deactivated his shield and stepped to Freya. His eyes narrowed as he marveled at the sight. “Very interesting indeed,” he said, clicking his boots together—the ultimate Lagerian salutation among members of the military. “You carry a mutation kindred to the hybrid son of Nalok. Your combustible vitality can access your nerve pathways directly.”

  Freya flared her nostrils. “Is his plan to talk us to death?”

  The Lagerian extended his hand. “I am Zarok, Overlord of the Second Order, and Commander Supreme of Sky Vessel Aspis.”

  “And I’m Freya, the self-named mutant of the woods.” Freya stared at Zarok unimpressed, waiting for her energy reserves to gather.

  Eric sprang between them as a human barrier.

  “Perhaps now that you know the capability of hy
brids, you can appreciate the foolishness of bringing us to your Aspis vessel alive,” Eric said.

  Despite the aggressive tone of his guests, Zarok calmly put his sensory receptor away. “You are not our prisoners, son of Nalok. If what we propose is not in your interest, you will be promptly returned to Earth.”

  “His name is Eric,” Freya said.

  “Yes, of course,” Zarok agreed. “You have my word. We only want to talk. What we have to say could not wait for civil introductions.”

  “Says you,” Freya hissed, still upset about… everything.

  “We’ll listen,” Eric finally said.

  “Please, follow me,” Zarok said as he immediately walked away.

  The command deck was a vast, circular room chock-full of screens and panels of all sizes that displayed outside activity and digital analyses needed to operate the vast Aspis cargosphere.

  Inside the room they found an oblong table crowded on all sides by Lagerian officials wearing a variety of uniforms. Whatever doubts Eric had up to that moment intensified as memories of Nalok behind a control console on Plantation-15 rushed back. His father frantically destroyed the systems he had built in advance of Eldaria’s forced takeover of the plantation network.

  The ultimate Lagerian overlord had worked methodically to leave no valuable information behind, a blank expression painted on his face, same as the Lagerians who now sat before Eric. They were dressed in long, black or silver jackets and pants with crimson markings along the sides. It was not clear whether they possessed uncommon restraint or merely lacked the capacity for expression.

  “Sit with us,” Zarok said as two Lagerian lords stood up to make room for Eric and Freya near the head of the table, on either side of Zarok.

  Eric caught Freya’s eye as she sat down across from him. He knew from her clenched teeth that she was fumbling with her receptor under the table.

  “We are listening,” Eric stated, sending one message to Zarok and quite another to Freya.

  “Friends, we have not come to Earth to harm you,” Zarok said. “Your planet was our last chance once we awoke within this star system. The place that we come from, our planet, will not be inhabitable for thousands of years if we do not succeed in our mission.”