Here is a continuation of a series experiment I’m still fleshing out. A Cooperative prospector had chanced upon a gate that the Sadari had surreptitiously created in the Mori’te system, and ended up being shot down by the Sadari over Terra. This experiment picks up the story where she was gravely injured not just by the violence of the assault, but by chance here on Terra, and her rescue by a recluse with interesting abilities. Ultimately, the goal is to get home. It will, naturally, be an extremely circuitous route, with interference from the Order, from the Sadari, and from regular Terrans themselves.
The time period this story takes place would coincide with the timeline between Books 2 and 3 of the Crow series.
Bear in mind, as an experiment, this is a rough draft. Later on I may give it some editing love, but it’s still readable, so enjoy…
“Shh, stay still.” Travis admonished Li’loa, grabbing her hand. “He can sense movement.”
“How can you tell?”
Travis shook his head. “Ever since you fixed me. Something happened. I don’t have to touch anymore.” He winced at tiny sounds coming from the hallway. Someone was approaching. Their hunter was near. An unearthly wail wafted down the hall, ending in a psychotic giggle. He was playing with them. Trying to torment them. And it was working.
Li’loa returned her attention to Travis, holding his hand tightly and trying to keep him calm. Her own unease didn’t help. She was easily stronger and faster than any human. This particular person, however, was different altogether. “Something was blocking you. I just adjusted your genetics so you could fix yourself. Same as your friend. Cecil.”
“Cecil had stage four cancer. That wasn’t a simple genetics adjustment.” Travis said. He scowled, looking toward the entrance to the hall. “I have been trying to get the hunter to forget us, but he is resisting me.” Travis winced. “He is very strong, too. Much stronger than the others.” He glanced at Li’loa. “He works for… Darkhorse?”
Li’loa just looked at him.
“He just thought about her. Oh my god, she’s like you. Darkhorse. That’s how she controlled the forest. I thought she was one of the others.”
“Is that why he is after me?” Li’loa asked quietly. “I took her control away.”
Travis nodded. “And me. I can almost resist him, and he finds that…”
“Entertaining.” Li’loa finished his thought, glancing at the door of the office. She grimaced at the noises. Their hunter was kicking in doors down the hall. But she got the impression that it was just to tease them. It was like he already knew where they were. She felt a darkness starting to consume her. Attempting to drain her. She grit her teeth and looked at Travis, trying to ignore the subtle attack. “He is very strong.”
Travis sighed. “I wanted to escape all of this when I moved to the cave. They tried to make me like this. Like him. Supercharged. Evil.” He looked at Li’loa. “And now this mess,” he pointed at himself, scowling, “is connected to you. The most precious angel I have ever come across.”
“I am sorry. You were dying. I had to fix you. Our bond was necessary,” Li’loa said. Whatever she did indeed supercharged him. But it had consequences. She felt the rawness of his soul. A live wire on the very cusp of burning out. He was too powerful for his own good, and she didn’t know how to fix that. That didn’t stop her from trying, however. She squeezed his hand, catching his eyes as she tried to calm his fears. “I don’t regret it, Travis.”
He found his anxiety relaxing and looked at her with fresh determination. “Tell that to your lifemate. He’s going to hate me.” Travis scowled. This bond they shared was more familial than the core bond she shared with her husband, but still much more intimate than he was accustomed to. He felt he tainted her with the darkness that surrounded his soul. He sensed it was routine to her, these more shallow bonds, that he was one of many. Just another day with her expansive family. He could almost see them, which he also found disconcerting. He knew they were watching back. He shook his head. “They’re all going to hate me. I’m not part of your family. Not one of them.” He sighed, looking back at the door. “I have to get you away from here. Far away.”
“You are family now, Travis. One of us. And he likes you. Maybe he can fix you the rest of the way. He is a medical technician and finds your condition fascinating.” Li’loa goosed him, happier that Travis had relaxed a bit. “Just get us to the gate,” Li’loa said, thankful he was momentarily distracted from the oppressive effect of their hunter.
“What gate?”
Both of them jerked around, startled. A figure huddled in the shadows of the office. Li’loa squeaked, holding her mouth. It wasn’t the hunter, however. The young man was new and completely undetected.
“Who are you?” Travis whispered, positioning himself between the new figure and Li’loa. He was having trouble getting a read on the new interloper. But he could tell the man was different. Horribly different. Like he was of the same psychotic spectrum as the one who hunted them.
The figure stood up and ambled casually over to the two of them, where they hid behind a desk, then plopped down on the floor next to them. He looked like a homeless person, but Travis recognized the way he moved. This was a young man of considerable confidence. He kept trying to get a read on him, but was only getting partial images. Something about a family of people like him. A large family. A family unified by a singular purpose.
“Shawn Needle, sir.” He leaned over to look at Li’loa. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am. We are very interested in you.”
Li’loa shrank back. “I just want to go home.”
“Of course you do.”
“Shawn, a very scary fella is looking for us. You don’t want to be here.” Travis said carefully. “We’ve only barely been able to stay ahead of him.”
“He is an interesting guy.” Shawn conceded, nodding. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then spontaneously grinned, as if amused by a recollection. “Not so scary, though.”
Li’loa gasped. Travis likewise stiffened, both of them looking at the door to the dim hall.
Shawn raised his brows. “You two are connected. Very interesting. I think we want to examine you as well, Travis.”
“He’s here,” Travis whispered, crouching, looking for anything to use as a weapon. The room seemed to get darker to them. More ominous. Travis could swear that the shadows they were hiding in were actually getting thicker. Tangible. Like dense, heavy molasses coalescing around them. A sense of dread threatened to overwhelm him, and he gulped, looking at Li’loa. “We must escape.”
Shawn patted Travis’s arm and pulled him to his feet. Li’loa followed. He smiled amicably and held his hand out to another exit from the office. “Don’t you worry about him. You two need to come with me.”
“I’m not invited? Pity.”
The three of them looked at the doorway. The silhouette of their hunter stood in the entrance to the office, hands on his hips. He was tall and scrawny, but he still seemed to fill the entrance. It was like he was radiating darkness except for intermittent glints where his eyes should be. Travis couldn’t repress a shudder and held onto Li’loa tightly.
“This way.” Shawn pointed. Travis tried to move, but found himself almost frozen. Everything seemed to have slowed down. Li’loa likewise struggled. Gritting his teeth, Travis tightened his grip on Li’loa, trying to shake the effect off, and broke free of the paralysis, taking more steps. The effect weakened, and he was able to take several more toward the entrance to an adjoining office, pulling Li’loa along with him.
“That is so impressive. No one has been able to resist me like this.” The hunter smirked, leaning casually on the door frame. “I could watch you all day, if things weren’t so urgent.”
Shawn tugged on them, trying to hurry them, then cocked his head and turned to face the hunter, raising his brows. “Wow, you’ve got a neat ability.”
“Yeah. I do.” The hunter approached him, pulling out a wicked-looking knife. “I don’t know you. But I know your people.”
Shawn grinned. “Well, you’re about to get to know me really well.”
“Sorry. Schedule’s rather tight.” The knife seemed to jab toward Shawn’s neck of its own accord. Only, Shawn was no longer stuck in his position. The hunter jerked around only to have an elbow slam into the base of his jaw, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.
Travis took in a sharp breath and nearly stumbled. He took another step and instinctively squeezed Li’loa’s waist to catch her. “How did you do that? He slowed us.”
Shawn nodded, picking up the knife. “Oh, he slowed me too.” He glanced up at Travis, smirking. “Even slowed, I’m still much faster than him.” He tossed the knife into the hall. “Now, shall we?”
“You’re not going to tie him up? Or kill him? He’ll be after us when he wakes.”
“Travis, we are not bloodthirsty monsters. Besides, I find him most curious. We may visit him later on to examine his little gifts.”
“You, you steal abilities.”
“Not entirely. That’s a bit of a draconian perspective.”
Travis crossed his arms. He started to recognize what he sensed from Shawn. He was no longer fully human. He was some sort of hybrid. A multitude of stolen lives threaded their way through him, coloring him like a kaleidoscope of different bits and pieces all melded into one.
“We want her because she’s an alien.” He winked at Li’loa. “Shaving only gets you so far, my furry friend.” He looked at Travis. “We want you because you seem to have connected with this alien, and we want to know how.”
“Because…” Travis left the implied question hanging.
Shawn raised his brows. “Oh sure, this is where I monologue while you figure out a way to escape?”
Travis scowled.
Shawn grabbed his arm, “Yeah, no. This is where you come quietly and we have a candid discussion in a more secure…” His eyes went wide, then he collapsed. Travis caught him before he banged his head and laid him on the ground.
“You purged him?” Li’loa asked quietly, wringing her hands. “You know that harms you, don’t you? You could lose yourself again.”
Travis wiped his eyes. “I had to. They don’t want you alive.” He looked at Li’loa. “They were going to dissect you. They want your genetics. Your, everything. Just, not you.” He sniffed, wiping his eyes again and looking at Shawn, who lay drooling and twitching. “We need to leave. Now. I feel his memories returning.”
Li’loa stepped over the hunter, following Travis to an adjoining office and out into another hall. “How can that be?”
“He’s… I don’t know. I can’t completely purge him. I can only push his memories back. It’s like he has a backup.” Travis looked at Li’loa. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why?”
“You are a guest here. And this is how you’ve been received.” Travis wiped his eyes, struggling to maintain his composure. He glanced back at Shawn. “And now I’ve had to do this again. I never wanted this. I only want to help people.”
Li’loa shook her head. “I admire your compassion, young one. Never lose it. But you must preserve yourself. No more purging.”
Travis blinked. “Young one? I am an adult.”
“Mm hmm.” Li’loa gave him a knowing look and exited into the hallway. “This way. I don’t sense anyone.”
“I didn’t either, and Shawn still surprised us.”
“Maybe I can help?”
Travis and Li’loa stopped in their tracks and looked back behind them. Li’loa bristled when she saw who was talking to them, and Travis had to swallow a surge of panic. Only, it wasn’t his panic. The person they saw hardly seemed to warrant this terror, however. A petite brunette smiled amicably, pointing. “This way will get you to safety.”
Li’loa stepped in front of Travis. “Please, don’t kill him.” Her voice quivered.
Travis looked at her curiously. He sensed she knew something he didn’t. He felt her terror levels explode and had trouble making sense of her thoughts. He squinted at the brunette. “Who are you?”
“My dear, you may call me Rachel. And killing you is the last thing I want to do.” Rachel grinned, holding her hand out. “Shall we?”
Travis felt Li’loa trembling and put an arm around her. She looked at him, her eyes wet. “She’s a golem. Nothing Terra has can overcome her.”
Travis thought of Earth’s nuclear weapons, and Li’loa just shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Your friends are starting to wake.” Rachel crossed her arms. “It’s them or me.”
Travis turned, looking down the hall. “I think we’ll just go this way.”
A whoosh of air ruffled his clothes, and suddenly Rachel was right in front of them. “There is a contingent of Order agents waiting for you this way. Their commander is back there and is nearly fully recovered.” She pointed back the way they came. “And your special little friend is likewise waking.” She grabbed Travis’s arm. Her grip was soft, but unyielding. “If hurting you were my goal, this building would be a crater.”
Travis looked at her hand. He sensed nothing. A rock may as well have been grabbing him. There was literally nothing to purge. Rachel just smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. “It’ll be fun. I promise.” She glanced at Li’loa. “And I promise not to hurt your Elf friend. Even though she invaded our space.”
“I didn’t know about the gate,” Li’loa said, subdued.
Rachel looked at her, raising a brow. “There’s an uncharted gate in the Mor’ite system?”
Li’loa shrugged. “I was there prospecting for minerals. Then I was over Terra being shot at.”
“Hmm, that is a development. Thank you for disclosing that. It changes things.” Rachel smiled, plucking at a loose thread on Li’loa’s blouse. “Come. Time is critical now.”
~ ~ ~
Travis sat up, then groaned, leaning to the side. He looked around. He was in a dark hall. Shattered glass covered the floor around him. Blinking, he looked over his shoulder. A window. With no glass. He vaguely remembered slamming into it. But not how. Last thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air by something he couldn’t see, along with Li’loa, and Rachel. Invisible tentacles had gripped all three of them, carrying them away from the hunter and Shawn up into something similarly invisible. They felt metallic. But oddly organic. Like they gave a little and shifted when squeezed. As if they were alive. He shuddered.
But the tentacles were long gone now, and he was on the floor of the same complex he was desperately trying to escape. The hunter couldn’t be far away. Nor were Shawn and his peculiar team. He sensed them. He could sense the animosity. Their anger.
They didn’t seem to know where he was at the moment. Travis sighed and looked around. “Li’loa?” He couldn’t sense her physically. She wasn’t close. But he knew she was alive. Just… asleep. Or unconscious. Did she fall back into the building, too? He tried to remember what happened. The only thing he could recall was an intense, explosive flash, then falling. She was falling too. Was she injured?
Movement. Travis stiffened. He wasn’t alone. He looked down the dark hallway. He missed Li’loa even more. She was able to see in the dark. All he could do was dimly sense. And what he sensed was, something was there. Something ominous. It wasn’t the hunter. It wasn’t Shawn. It was different. And predatory. He gulped and looked around again, looking for anywhere to hide. There appeared to be a fire escape down the hall. It was only a few offices away, but it felt impossibly far.
A growl. Deep and rumbling. Something one would expect from a massive apex predator. He felt it as much as heard it. Travis scooted back, then got his feet under him. Only, it seemed like he was wading through mud. His legs felt like lead weights. It was different from the hunter, though. He didn’t feel slowed. He felt trapped. His adrenaline kicked in, and he fought with all his might to push through it. But the more he pushed, the stronger the effect became.
He looked back down the hallway. It seemed much darker now. Except there was a spark. A little bolt of static electricity seemed to snake from the ceiling to the walls and floor, cutting through the darkness for a brief moment. It was enough to illuminate her. A peculiar girl was crawling on the ceiling. She stopped when he saw her, her eyes locking with his. Then blackness again. Travis shuddered, trying even harder to backpedal. His legs were not cooperating, however.
Another sparking flash. She was much closer, crawling on the ceiling and looking at him with an expression of raw rage. Travis fell back and started clawing the floor, trying to get away. The hall filled with reverberations of an inhuman roar. He could feel the vibration of it from the floor. He could see her better now that she was closer. She was stalking him, crawling on the ceiling. Even her long, wavy locks of auburn hair seemed to defy gravity. And something big and black filled the hall behind her.
Another spark, and he saw her partner. A gigantic mass of black fur and terror. Moisture glistened on its horrifying teeth when it roared again. Travis cried out, scrambling as fast as he could, but not getting anywhere. Suddenly, she was beside him, his head in her hands. She snarled at him, revealing rows of shark-like teeth. Something surged within him, and she flew away from him, landing on the wall while screaming in terrifying fury. An explosion of sparks danced down the hall, creating pockmarks as bits of concrete ablated.
A massive, clawed hand slammed him back down to the floor, and his entire world was filled with teeth just inches from his face. He felt a deep rumble of unfettered rage wash over him from the creature, and Travis grimaced. Vertigo hit him. Likewise, that creature also retreated, roaring angrily as it retrieved an intimidatingly huge, alien-looking cannon and aimed it at him. Travis briefly found himself freed and, clambering to his feet, he started running toward the smashed window in a full-on sprint fed by unfettered panic.
Something gripped the back of his neck, effectively clothes-lining him. He felt his feet swing forward while his neck was held fast by something cold and hard. Blinking, he tried to look back as he was lifted from the ground, dangling from the grip. He was met with a steely gaze from an impossibly white face. Even his irises were white, and his hair was like strands of glass. Travis was pulled close and bumped against a body that was as hard as stone. And in spite of that, it was animated, moving organically. Travis felt a tingle of panic numbing his legs. This creature was impossible. A myth. And yet, it gripped him as firmly as a bronze statue. “Please…”
Hands on his face. He looked around at a lithe, armored figure. There was something familiar about her. She cocked her head. “Where is she?”
Those weren’t spoken words. She was in his head. Thoughts and memories rose from his tangled consciousness, as if expertly sifted and gleaned. “Where is Li’loa?”
The grip on his neck stiffened, and Travis winced. Whatever was in his head retreated quickly, and the armored figure gripped her own head as she stumbled back. “He is a Nullifier!”
“Then he must die.” The voice was cold, measured. It seemed to come from the air around him. Travis clawed at the hand that was gripping his neck, feeling the grip adjusting for a fatal, bone-crushing squeeze. The one gripping him had eons of memories. Thousands of years. He felt lost in them, and another surge in his mind placed him within its universe. A universe of impossible creatures and landscapes. He heard a distant wail, and suddenly he was flying through the air.
Gasping, Travis watched as the building seemed to fly away from him. He only viscerally realized the opposite was true. He was the one flying. But he wasn’t falling. It was like something held him. Was pulling him. He was literally falling sideways. A grassy field came into view, and Travis bounced and tumbled across it until he came to an ignoble stop under a shrub. Coughing, he tried to sit up, but flopped back down, spent.
Li’loa was suddenly embracing him, crying. He tried to return the embrace, but his arms weren’t working right. She shook her head and just lay there with him, holding him.
“How?” Travis finally got his breath back.
“Dude. You have some scary friends.”
Travis looked over Li’loa’s shoulder. “Cecil?”
His former roommate grinned and plopped to the ground next to them. “That hurt, man. You have got to lose some weight.”
“What happened?” Travis took a deep breath, feeling like he had just surfaced from too long underwater. He coughed. Li’loa helped him sit up.
“Something had you two. Something big.” Cecil nodded. “I could feel it, but it was too big for me. Then, like, boom.” He pantomimed with his hands. “I saw these metallic tentacles falling to the ground. You two were falling. I got her, but couldn’t quite get you, so I found the closest place to put you.”
“You rammed me through a window?”
“I broke the window first,” Cecil said defensively. “I was going to get you right after, but Li’loa was out and I had to take care of her.”
“Something shot the ship?” Travis mused.
“They are looking for me,” Li’loa said. “They did not know we were friends.”
Travis looked at her.
“They would help me get to the gate.”
“Are you kidding?” Travis blinked. He looked down at his trousers. “I about peed my pants.”
“They thought you were my enemy,” Li’loa said apologetically.
“Jesus. I… they were going to kill me.”
Li’loa looked away. “They called you something. I’ve never heard that before.”
“My special problem.” Travis nodded, rubbing his temple, still feeling the memories he had nearly purged. Ancient, alien memories.
“Yeah.” Li’loa sighed, looking grim. “Your special problem.”
