Dark Energy

The Adam Cain Saga - Book #5

T.R. Harris

The Human Chronicles Universe

THC

Tom Harris Creations

Copyright 2020

by Tom Harris Creations, LLC

All rights reserved.**

Three Free Books

No kidding. 3 FREE BOOKS, simply for signing up for my Fan Email List.

Just fill out the Subscribe form here.

Novels by T.R. Harris

The Adam Cain Saga

The Dead Worlds

Empires

Battle Plan

Galactic Vortex

Dark Energy

Universal Law (coming May 2020)

The Human Chronicles

The Fringe Worlds

Alien Assassin

The War of Pawns

The Tactics of Revenge

The Legend of Earth

Cain’s Crusaders

The Apex Predator

A Galaxy to Conquer

The Masters of War

Prelude to War

The Unreachable Stars

When Earth Reigned Supreme

A Clash of Aliens

Battlelines

The Copernicus Deception

Scorched Earth

Alien Games

The Cain Legacy

The Andromeda Mission

Last Species Standing

Invasion Force

Force of Gravity

Mission Critical

The Lost Universe

The Immortal War

Destroyer of Worlds

Phantoms

Terminus Rising

The Last Aris

The Human Chronicles Box Set Series

Box Set #1 – Books 1-5 in the series

Box Set #2 – Books 6-10 in the series

Box Set #3 – Books 11-15 in the series

Box Set #4 – Books 16-20 in the series

Box Set #5—Books 21-25 in the series

REV Warriors Series

Rev

REV: Renegades

REV: Rebirth

REV: Revolution

REV: Retribution

REV: Revelations (coming soon)

REV Warriors Box Set #1 – Books 1-3 in the series

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

The Enclaves of Sylox

Treasure of the Galactic Lights

The Drone Wars Series

Day of the Drone

In collaboration with Co-Author George Wier…

The Liberation Series

Captains Malicious

Available exclusively on Amazon.com and FREE to members of Kindle Unlimited.

Contents

The alien with an attitude is back!

Adam Cain

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

Next Up — Universal Law

Author’s Notes

Three Free Books

Facebook Group

Email & Website

Novels by T.R. Harris

The alien with an attitude is back!

The Adam Cain Saga

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And now it’s an ancient Aris service module named Kanan who’s causing all the problems. In the continuation of Galactic Vortex, Adam Cain and Co. are trying to save The Dead Zone from Kanan and his fleet of super warships piloted by an army of deadly service modules.

Employing a weapon of unbelievable power, Kanan is on a mission to destroy all Union and Expansion forces in the Zone, even if he has to destroy whole planets in the process.

So, how does one defeat an impossible-to-destroy, three-billion-year-old artificial intelligence with an unbeatable fleet behind him? You call in your mutant friends, Panur and Lila, that’s how!

That’s right, the gang’s all here, including Copernicus, Summer, Monty and Tidus, along with the regulars Adam, Sherri, Riyad, Kaylor and Jym.

It’s a cast reunion for The Human Chronicles, back for another round of thrilling space opera adventure.

Adam Cain and friends are back!

So, let the alien ass-kicking commence!

Adam Cain

is an Alien with an Attitude

His story continues…

Chapter 1

“I’m going to personally strangle each and every one of those lying Gracilian bastards!” Copernicus growled. “They set us up. They’ve been working with Kanan all along.”

“Get in line,” Adam Cain said. “You’re not the one who was this close to being sucked into a blackhole.”

Coop laughed. “Well, seeing that you were draped over my unconscious body at the time, I was right there with you, buddy. We would have shared the bliss of eternity together.”

Adam shuddered. “I hadn’t thought of that. I can think of quite a few other people I’d rather have my atoms fused with than you … buddy.”

The pair had just entered the tactical command center at the newly designated Camp Forrester on Navarus. Since the facility was now the largest military base in the Dead Zone, Earth felt it deserved more of an identity than simply Fleet Operations Center—Navarus. John Forrester was someone who had done something way back when and was now being honored with a military base named after him. Adam was okay with that. He’d grown weary of calling it The Garrison. And besides, with the influx of funds and fame, the hospital had been beefed up, making it the only place in the Dead Zone that catered almost exclusively to Humans.

Both he and Copernicus were brought to the hospital the day before after the evil Aris service module Kanan nearly shocked them to death with bolts of dark energy. Fortunately, Adam’s newly-acquired artificial telepathy device—his ATD—saved both their lives. It absorbed the energy and then vented it through a miniature blackhole within the pencil-sized device embedded under his right armpit. The problem: It nearly overloaded in the process, which would have sucked Adam—and everything within a twenty-foot circumference—into the microscopic singularity. To everyone’s relief, Adam’s immortal mutant friend Panur showed up at the last second and saved his life, along with Coop’s—and probably a lot more.

The injuries they suffered were minor, and they were released from the hospital earlier that morning. They’d come to the operations center to witness what they hoped would be the final few minutes of Kanan’s miserable existence.

The day before, Kanan and four of his subservient modern service modules had escaped Navarus in one of their dark-energy warships. To do so, they had to pass through the strength of the Union forces around the planet. Their sudden departure caught most of the defenders flatfooted, and the ship slipped out of the star system and into clear space before bolting away faster than any of its pursuers. But now other Human ships from within the Zone were moving in, attempting to box in the vessel and destroy it with overwhelming firepower. A full squadron of Union starships was about to unleash Hell upon the single Gracilian vessel, hopefully putting an end to Kanan and the havoc he was wrecking on the Zone.

* * *

“Where is he?” Adam Cain asked as he and Coop entered the dimly lit command center. There was frenetic energy in the room as officers and enlisted studied their scopes and screens, analyzing data sent in from sixteen light-years away.

“He’s passing the DZ-18 star system,” a lieutenant colonel reported. Although Adam wasn’t officially in Earth’s military any longer, he still commanded a fair amount of respect and deference at the Human garrison. “We have twenty-eight ships moving in to block him. As you know, his damn dark-energy warship is a lot faster than ours; the only way we’re going to get him is by trapping him within a containment formation.”

Adam grimaced. Good luck with that, he thought. He didn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but he knew Kanan wouldn’t allow himself to be trapped—not unless he wanted to be. Although Adam sincerely hoped for victory, he was also pragmatic. Deep inside, he was having trouble believing the coming engagement was going to work out to the Union’s advantage.

During the brief time Adam spent in the hospital, a number of questions nagged at him. First was the fact that Adam and Copernicus had been incredibly lucky at luring Kanan into a trap, allowing them to capture him and transport the evil machine to Navarus. The trip back from Tarenuga had taken six days. Then upon arriving on Navarus, they discovered that the supposed containment field the Gracilians scientists had built to hold Kanan and the other service modules was nothing of the sort. The field had been a sham, part of a plan to do what, exactly? Get Kanan to Navarus? It was a sobering thought that Kanan could have killed both he and Coop anytime he wanted. Luckily, he waited until the ship returned to Navarus to try. That was when Panur stepped in.

However, for the past eighteen hours, the question ‘Why’ was bugging him. Why did he come all the way to Navarus to do something he could have done anytime over the prior six days? Not only that, but Kanan and the four newer service modules would then be stuck on Navarus, all alone, and with their main fleet over six hundred light-years away. What did Kanan hope to gain by coming all the way to Navarus?

“What about the rest of his fleet?” Adam asked, referring to Kanan’s nearly five-hundred-unit strong force of super-starships. “Any movement?” After Adam and Coop’s supposed abduction of Kanan, the fleet left the planet Tarenuga and moved to Saloc, on the other side of Arret. Why they had moved was another question that needed answering.

A petty officer first-class answered. “No sir, still on Saloc. That appears to be where Kanan is headed.”

Colonel Todd Oaks stepped up to Adam and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just be glad the fleet isn’t headed for Navarus, captain, at least not yet. It gives us a little more time to prepare.”

Adam and Copernicus shook the hand of the base commander.

“I’m glad to see the two of you are doing better,” said Oaks. “It’s really sickening what happened to Jack.”

He was referring to Jack Brown, the senior intelligence officer for the Orion-Cygnus Union within the Dead Zone, and Coop’s immediate supervisor. Kanan killed him the day before with a blast of dark energy. Adam felt responsible for the death, figuring the bolt was intended for him and not Jack. There was no reason for Kanan to kill the master spy.

A Navy commander stepped up to the group. Oaks turned to the officer.

“Mr. Smith, I’m sure you know Commander Rob Rigby. He was Jack’s second-in-command. He’ll be assuming his duties until Earth can get a replacement out here.”

First Coop, then Adam shook the commander’s hand.

“I’m glad someone is taking over who knows the lay of the land,” Copernicus said. “Hopefully, they’ll let you stay in command.” Coop and Rigby had worked together before.

“I appreciate that, Mr. Smith,” the officer said. “But I’m not sure if I want the job. The Zone is the center of the universe at this point. It could explode at any moment.”

Adam knew the man didn’t mean it. From the glint in his eyes, Adam could tell the Naval officer was addicted to the adventure.

Oaks turned to the room and the myriad of scopes and screens that cast the occupants in an eerie greenish glow.

“Hopefully, this will work. We know Kanan is the key to everything. Either we defeat his fleet or we defeat him. The fleet is proving to be nearly invincible; just ask the Juireans. And now Kanan has given us a chance to focus our efforts on him exclusively. We know where he is. All we have to do now is finish the job.”

Again, Adam grimaced. If only it were that simple.

But now the game was about to start. On half a dozen screens, a mass of white lines were about to intersect with a red one, getting closer by the second. From the look of things, Kanan’s ship was boxed in, to a degree. Even so, would twenty-eight ships be enough to take out the dark-energy-powered Gracilian warship, with its superior speed, weaponry and shielding? He would know soon enough.

“Reports coming in,” said the first-class. “Change in course; Kanan’s lining up for a counterattack.”

Adam bit his bottom lip. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t going to turn out good for the allies.

Adam scanned the graphic display of the battlefield. Even with twenty-eight warships closing in around him, with his superior speed Kanan still had multiple escape routes available. The fact that he was lining up for an attack of his own meant he was confident with the outcome. And if so, then he was just being a dick, willing to take a few Union warships with him when it wasn’t necessary. It was time to find out of his confidence had merit.

Bubbles flared on the screen, signaling the first contact. Immediately, two of the Human warships winked out on the monitor. Then another two. The remaining twenty-two vessels began to regroup, their formation disrupted by the rapid movement of the Gracilian warship and its unexpected counterattack. The squadron began to cluster together, consolidating firepower against the solitary target. In response, Kanan sent his ship streaking away before making a wide overhead loop, now coming at the cluster of allied vessels from port. A moment later, the dark-energy ship entered the formation, blasting away with dual sets of high-powered flash weapons, each rated at fifty-percent stronger than anything the Humans could bring to bear.

The Human formation was in a state of confusion. The enemy was within their midst, preventing the allies from taking clean shots without the risk of hitting a friendly. Although a few captains panicked and lit off flash bolts at the rapidly transiting enemy warship, they were quickly told to stand down as their bolts struck the screens of allied vessels.

By the time Kanan emerged from the other side of the formation, another six Human warships were either destroyed or damaged to the point where they would have to be towed back to base for repairs. Ten out of the twenty-eight warships were now out of the fight, and all against one enemy vessel. Such was the challenge the Human forces faced in the Zone against Kanan’s super warships. Only a little over a week ago, the Juireans lost eight hundred vessels to take out a hundred of Kanan’s force. The attrition rate was horrific. At the current rate, it would take a combined armada of ten thousand or more to wipe out his units, and only if the battle was carried out within a unified battlefield where Kanan would allow his fleet to go head-to-head against the allies. Adam was sure he wouldn’t let that happen. Even if the allies could muster such a large fleet—and at the moment that was several months away before coming together—Kanan would never send his ships against such a large force. He wasn’t that stupid.

After having made his point, Kanan turned his vessel and bolted away, much to the relief of the ravaged squadron. None of the remaining sixteen Human warships took up the pursuit—they knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up with Kanan anyway, making a rematch a possibility only if Kanan chose to have one. Instead, captains began to tend to the wounded, tethering their ships to the damaged vessels while others scoured the debris field for survivors who might be drifting in the vacuum of space.

The initial spirit and enthusiasm in the command center had drained away by this point, leaving in its wake a thick cloak of despair. This was the first encounter between Human forces and those of the insane Aris service module. It didn’t bode well for the future.

The battle ended as abruptly as it began, and now Colonel Oaks was on a link with Admiral David Adkins, the area commander for the Human forces in the Dead Zone. The admiral had watched the battle from his flagship in orbit around Navarus, and now the two officers were discussing what should happen next. Once Kanan linked up with his fleet, they wouldn’t stay stationery for long. And with the current state of the Zone, there weren’t a lot of options for Kanan to attack. It came down to three: The Human base on Htay-Win, along with the planets Dasnon and Navarus. That was where most of the allied forces in the Zone were assembled, besides the random units on patrol duty. Kanan would surely make a move against the strongholds. Over the past few weeks, even before the Juirean battle, Kanan’s forces were raiding the planets of the Zone, killing innocent colonists without hesitation or remorse. It was also unnecessary. But still he did it, probably as a way to get the allies to act, to send out flotillas to engage his fleet in smaller skirmishes, battles that would have a guaranteed result.

Or maybe he was just being a dick, killing living beings because he could. After all, why would an inanimate object like an ancient Aris service module care about living creatures?

And now the two senior military commanders in the area were attempting to anticipate Kanan’s next move.

As Adam scanned the worried faces of those in the command center, he knew that brute force wouldn’t be enough to defeat Kanan, at least not until nearly the entire combined fleets of the Orion-Cygnus Union and the Juirean Expansion were sacrificed to the cause. Instead, technology would defeat Kanan and his deadly service module army, technology which hopefully the mutant geniuses Panur and Lila could devise. And that was only if Kanan would give them time to come up with something, before the genius-in-his-own-right Kanan came up with something of his own.

Chapter 2

A depressed Adam Cain and Copernicus Smith left the command center and went to join Panur in one of the nondescript rooms where the first interrogation of the traitorous Gracilian scientists would take place. As they entered, they found the tiny grey mutant sitting at a table where a pair of small half domes made of wire mesh rested. Adam frowned at the odd contraptions as he and Coop took seats on Panur’s side of the table.

Coop insisted on attending the meeting, becoming angrier and more agitated the closer they got to the building and the interrogation session. Coop’s emotional state had to come from guilt, Adam reasoned, since it was Coop who brought the two scientists to Navarus in the first place. Not only that, but Copernicus also helped the Gracilian bigwig Aric Jroshin escape from prison, setting this whole series of unfortunate events in motion. And now the scientists had conspired with Kanan, convincing Adam and Coop that they had a way of containing the deadly service orb. Coop wanted answers, and he wasn’t shy in letting it be known he’d do anything necessary to get them.

Adam didn’t get a chance to ask about the wire domes before the two Gracilian scientists—Vodenik and Kovach—were led into the room under the watchful eye of two Marine guards.

The mutant turned his attention to the two scared scientists. Like nearly everyone else in the galaxy, they knew of Panur; the Milky Way was rife with stories of the mutant superbeing, some true, most exaggerations. But it was obvious that his reputation—as well as his subsequent actions in the launch bay of the Gracilian dark-energy ship—had made an impression on the scientists. The Marines forced the pair down onto chairs on the opposite side of the table. The aliens trembled with nervous energy.

“I want you to put these on,” Panur said abruptly, pushing the two wire caps closer to the aliens. They eyed them with fear and apprehension.

“What are they?” Vodenik asked.

“Just a means for me to extract the information I need from your minds,” Panur answered nonchalantly.

“What information?” Kovach inquired.

Panur shrugged. “Why, everything, of course. We seek all you know about Kanan and his plans. You were his accomplices, helping not only with the construction of the new service modules, but also the dark-energy starships. And now you’ve been complicit in his coming to Navarus and the near death of my friends. You knew he was coming and we want to know why. With these caps I will have direct access to your brains and will be able to extract all the information I need.” Panur smiled.

Kovach’s dark eyes were wide with terror as he stared at the wire skull caps. “There is no need for such methods. We will tell you what you wish to know!”

Panur shook his head. “You say that now, yet I’m afraid you won’t. Besides, this method is much simpler and more thorough. Through my technique, I will extract all your memories, leaving nothing hidden, nothing forgotten. And once they are in my head, I can browse through them at my leisure, pulling out only what I need and discarding the rest. It is the most efficient means I can think of. However, unfortunately for you, the extraction process is a one-way street.”

“What does that mean?” Vodenik asked.

“It means that once the information is extracted, there is no way to return it. But be assured, the process is relatively painless—as I understand—although when I’m done, you will not recall what the word pain means. This is the best way all around. Now please, place the caps on your heads—or I will have the Marines do it for you.”

“Please, no!” said Kovach. “There is no need for this! We will tell you everything you want to know.”

“But don’t you see, that won’t be necessary. As I just said, I will acquire information even you do not know you possess.” Panur snorted. “If I relied on only your conscious memories, I would not gain all the information possible. It would not be your fault. That is just how brains work. Trust me,” Panur continued, sounding almost sympathetic. “When I am done, you will not miss the lives you once had. You will have no memory of who or what you were. In fact, your minds will be empty husks; yet with it will come a form of tranquility, of peace, even as your listless bodies will have to be terminated, since they will serve no useful purpose. But again, you will not realize what is happening to you. It will be a most merciful way to die. Now isn’t this future preferred to one of pain and torture brought about by my lack of trust in your voluntary responses?”

“But we will cooperate!” Vodenik yelled. A Marine had to step forward to keep the alien seated in the chair. “And not only that, but we have skills, skills which will now serve you, just as they served Kanan.”

Panur laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Are you seriously implying that you have superior mental skills than do I, that you can do things that I can’t?”

The aliens looked at each other with growing panic. Kovach picked up the joint defense.

“That we would never presume; we know who and what you are. We would merely be your servants, using our knowledge and creativity to assist in your efforts to defeat Kanan.”

Panur frown and shook his head. “Yet once I have absorbed your memories, I will know everything you know. Why would I want to put myself through the trouble of having you tell me things?”

“We … we are skilled engineers. We can build things while you are involved in other endeavors. Your time is precious. You are but one person, with only two arms and two hands. We can make you more productive.”

Adam knew what was coming when Panur lifted a thin grey arm and smiled at the aliens. Slowly, the skin on his forearm and hand began to vibrate, then a moment later, his hand separated into two. He wiggled the fingers of both pairs of hands. Adam watched a look of revulsion sweep across the faces of the aliens. Even the Marines were shocked, their mouths falling open slightly before they caught themselves.

Adam knew that one of the consequences of Panur’s instantaneous cell regeneration was his ability to shapeshift. It had come in handy more than once during their past adventures together.

“As you see,” Panur said, “I have all the hands I need, and then some.” His arm returned to normal. “But I do appreciate the offer.”

The mutant turned to Adam. He sighed deeply.

“What do you think, Adam? I almost feel sorry for these pitiful creatures. Should I spare their minds? You know what I would prefer. To me, keeping them alive would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

Adam shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose you could suck out their memories and leave them mindless vegetables. Or, on the other hand, they might come in handy. We’ll never know if you kill them. And besides, this doesn’t have to be a one-time offer. If you feel they’re lying to you or not being forthcoming, you could always extract their brains at that time.”

The Gracilians sat paralyzed on the other side of the table, neither moving nor breathing as Panur contemplated Adam’s sensible words.

Finally, Panur shrugged. “I suppose you are correct, my friend. I could always do it later.”

“You’re going to let them live?” Copernicus gasped. “That’s dumb, especially if you can get what you want without their help.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Smith, but you must understand I am a compassionate creature, as is your friend Adam Cain. We do not kill aliens just for the pleasure of killing.”

“Since when!”

“Since now.” Panur turned to the aliens.

“Will you tell us everything we need to know about Kanan and the Aris?”

“Yes!” the aliens harmonized.

“Will you use your knowledge and experience to assist us, even beyond what we ask of you directly, being creative with your contributions to the cause?”

“Yes!”

“Very well, I will delay any extraction process until the time when I feel it’s warranted.”

“That time will not come!” Vodenik stammered. “I assure you.”

“That is all for now,” Panur said, waving his hand dismissively. “I will confer with my associates and return with more questions, at which time you will begin proving your worth. However, be assured, every meeting from here on out will be a test of your willingness to help. If I sense any deception, any trepidation, I will not hesitate to revert to my original plan. Guards, you may remove the prisoners.”

After witnessing Panur’s unnatural manipulation of his hand, the Marines were as anxious as the Gracilians to leave the room. A moment later, Adam, Coop and the mutant were alone. Adam picked up one of the wire caps. He looked at Panur.

“They don’t do anything, do they?” Adam asked.

Panur shook his head. “Of course not; I made them out of some fencing wire I found in a warehouse nearby.”

“You what?” Copernicus choked.

Adam smiled. When one had lived for five thousand years and with complete and instantaneous recall—as Panur had—most people took him at his word if he said he could do something. Adam, on the other hand, had been around the cunning mutant long enough to know when he was running a con.

“Well played, Panur.”

“I thought you’d get a kick out of that. Now, all we have to do is figure out the right questions to ask our enthusiastic Gracilian friends.”

Chapter 3

Capt. Cain’s Bar & Grill was nearly deserted, except for members of Adam’s newly reassemble team.

Some of those present hadn’t been around for almost three years, including Panur and Adam’s daughter, Lila. Also, Arieel had only recently come back on the scene, as had Copernicus.

The diminutive Summer Rains was there, too, having come into town for supplies—and other things. Seated next to her was Jay Williford, the sometimes-charming, most-times reckless former salvager who now served in Adam’s Enforcer corps. He and summer had met four months ago and took an instant liking to each other. Adam understood. At the time, there weren’t a lot of men—Human men—around her age on the planet. That was changing as Camp Forrester grew. But nearly fifty percent of the soldiers and sailors were female, so the pickings weren’t as easy as one would think. Even so, Summer and Jay made a cute couple.

Summer’s father, Monty Pitts, along with the Juirean, Tidus Fe Nolan, were still in the mountains east of Kanac, on their so-far fruitless search for Jroshin’s missing two billion Juirean credits. Summer would be returning to the camp the next day.

Also present were Adam’s oldest and dearest friends, Sherri Valentine and Riyad Tarazi, along with the aliens Kaylor and Jym. The pair of aliens had taken over the management of Cain’s now that Adam was the Marshal of the Dead Zone, and for this get-together, they’d forgone their customary duties as bartenders and hosts and joined their friends, leaving the serving duties to their employees.

It was early Spring on Navarus, and the weather out on the sandy beach behind the bar was perfect, in the mid-seventies with only a hint of a salty sea breeze coming in off the water. Even with the ideal conditions, there weren’t a lot of people at Cain’s. Most of the regular patrons had more important things to do than to spend time in the restaurant, drinking and feasting on real bar-b-que. The Zone was in turmoil—again—and no one was naïve enough to think Navarus would escape unscathed. Kanan was waging indiscriminate war on the planets of the Dead Zone, with the prize target being that of Navarus. As a result, there was a steady stream of people leaving the world, even as the population of Camp Forrester was growing. But just as with the last exodus from the Zone—when Kracion was on the move—only a tiny fraction of the population could get away. However, with more defenders in place than anywhere else in the region, some were trying to convince themselves that everything would be fine. Others weren’t so optimistic. They were packing up and moving out of the cities, choosing to hide away in the jungles, mountains or deserts further to the south until the crisis passed. Adam couldn’t blame them. He knew what Kanan was capable of.

But now he smiled approvingly at his gorgeous daughter and her incongruous companion, Panur. Talk about an odd couple. Lila had sprung from Arieel—simply the most beautiful Prime female in the galaxy—and fortunately, she had her mother’s looks. She was every bit as radiant, with shimmering black hair and an even bronze glow to her skin. She wasn’t quite as voluptuous as Arieel but was sensuous in her own right. Why she had hooked up with Panur was anyone’s guess.

But Adam understood—sort of. Lila was the Apex Being, the culmination of a three-billion-year long experiment by the ancient Aris to produce a natural immortal being. In that, they succeeded. But even more, she was a genius, every bit an equal to Panur. The only thing that set them apart was Panur’s longevity. He had existed for five thousand years, and during that time, he’d been sucking up information and life experiences. On the other hand, Lila was only eighteen Earth years old, even though her body had developed at a rapid pace until it settled into the perfect physical form for a half-Formilian, half-Human female. Adam estimated her to be about twenty-two in Human years, forty in Formilian. As a proud father, Adam was glad to know she would remain just as she was for all eternity, never growing older, or sick or weary.

And for Lila, the only being in the universe close to her level was Panur. Because of that, Adam understood why the two gravitated to each other. While the rest of the galaxy withered and died, Lila and Panur would always have each other.

And now, it was their job to come up with a solution to the Kanan problem.

“So, Panur, have you learned anything from the Gracilians we can use?” Adam asked the mutant.

“Nothing definitive at the moment.” He looked at Lila. “However, we are investigating the retention field they used to work on the service modules.”

“If there really is a field,” Copernicus griped. “You can’t trust those bastards about anything.”

“The field is a theoretical possibility, Mr. Smith,” Lila said sweetly. “Panur and I have discussed it.”

Sherri was seated between Adam and Copernicus. She put an arm around Adam’s shoulder and pulled him close to her. He could tell she’d been enjoying the bar’s generous stock of alcoholic beverages a little too much already.

“I hear you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save my boyfriend. That was mighty noble of you.”

“Not at all. I just knew how pissed off you’d be if I let Kanan mess up his pretty face. Even so, he did get a little scorched.”

Sherri now moved to Coop and unbuttoned the front of his Aloha shirt—imported directly from Honolulu, Hawaii, by the way. She rubbed the virgin skin of his now-hairless chest.

“I thought I liked him hairy, but now I’m loving this. It’s as smooth as a baby’s butt.”

Copernicus removed her hand from his shirt. “Don’t get used to it. I’m not about to shave it constantly. And because of that, I know it’s going to itch like a bitch while it’s growing back.”

Riyad was seated across the series of three round tables that were pushed together for the party. He looked at Summer.

“Why don’t you and your dad take off for a while; get away from Navarus until it’s safe. I’m sure the treasure will still be there when you get back.”

She smirked. Adam knew what Riyad was up to. He’d been looking for the lost fortune himself, during his rare times off as Adam’s Deputy Marshal.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Not a chance, buddy. Besides, we’re pretty damn safe up there. We’re almost a hundred miles from Kanac and eight thousand feet elevation and with a couple of hundred mines in which to hide. The problem we’re having nowadays is keeping the riff-raff out. Everyone and their four-armed brother are coming up there to get away from the city in case Kanan attacks.” She smiled sweetly and cocked her head at Riyad. “That’s why we’re counting on you and your Enforcers to save us from the evil Aris service module, my big, strong Riyad Tarazi, along with his trusty sidekick, Adam Cain.”

“Excuse me, Miss Rains,” Adam said. “But I believe you have that backward.”

“I don’t think so. The two of you are two peas in a pod.”

Arieel was on the opposite side of Adam from Sherri. She snuggled in, letting her open Formilian emotions get the best of her. She had her man—her Human man—as well as her daughter, both in one place. For her, everything was magical, perfect. Even as a bloodthirsty horde of killer machines plotted their demise.

Adam put his arm around her. He, too, would savor the moment, knowing that come sunrise, he would be back at it again. If there was anything Adam Cain knew for sure, it was that the job of the alien with an attitude was never done.

Chapter 4

The next meeting with the Gracilian scientists took place two days after Panur’s masterful gambit with the skull caps. The mutant let the aliens sweat it out for a while, wondering if he would keep his promise not to suck their memories from their brains. Now Adam, Coop and Panur entered the cell where the scientists were held for the first round of questioning.

“We are ready to begin our full and open cooperation,” Vodenik announced the moment the trio entered.

“Like you did before?” Copernicus snapped. He still wasn’t convinced the aliens would tell the truth. “You lied then; what’s to say you won’t lie again?”

The two Gracilians looked nervously at each other. “But you were there when we pledged to cooperate fully,” Kovach pointed out.

“You’re missing the point,” Coop said. “You promised not to lie the first time I met you. Why will it be any different now?”

“Because … because we said so,” Kovach stammered, realizing now why Coop would question their sincerity. “Believe me when I say, this time, we will tell the truth.”

“Because your lives depend on it,” Panur stated, helping the alien articulate his point.

“Yes, exactly.”

The Humans and Panur sat at the single table in the room while the Gracilians remained on their twin cots. They were content not to get too close to the mutant and the pair of angry Humans.

“So why don’t you begin at the beginning,” Adam said. “Tell us the truth about Kanan and the Gracilian involvement with the Aris.”

“Of course,” said Vodenik anxiously. “We were truthful that we have been studying the Aris culture for a hundred standard years, if not longer. We have sent hundreds of probes and expeditions into the area of the ancient Aris star system, including regions beyond the Zaniff Asteroid Field. During that time, we collected thousands of artifacts, including service modules, dark matter collectors, message pods, synthetics and so much more, many items that even today we do not understand their function.”

“Collectors?” Adam asked. “How many? You mean more than the one Jroshin had?” Adam knew how dangerous dark matter collectors could be. Without proper handling, they could be used to make the deadliest bombs in the galaxy.

“Five or six, I am not sure.”

“Where are they now?”

“Aric Jroshin took two of them, not the single unit you claim he had. The rest are on Gracilia, in a secure vault accessible only to those with proper authority. You must understand, Jroshin was the lead scientist in a society built on science and investigation. He oversaw all aspects of the Aris program, and when the time came to evacuate Gracilia, he took with him a cache of items, designed for the preservation of our culture and our work.”

“So not only the two billion Juirean credits?” Copernicus asked, his curiosity piqued.

Kovach laughed. “The credits were of no importance to him or other Gracilians, except as a means to restart our programs once a new base was established. That base was to be Aac’or. Unfortunately, we failed in our effort to take over the government on the planet.”

“And what part did Kanan play in these plans of yours?” Panur asked.

Kovach took over the narration. “That developed over time. At first, the KN unit was just one of many modules we were studying.” He looked at Adam. “You say you have had personal experience with the units? If so, then you know they are extremely helpful when not in the service of an Aris. It was through Kanan—as well as others—that we learned volumes of information concerning the Aris and their society. And it was Kanan who first introduced us to the Lerpiniere-Effect, which allowed us to hold the units in suspension while we began to explore their inner workings.”

“Lerpiniere-Effect, what’s that?” Adam said, looking at Panur.

“We know it as the interphase field,” the mutant said. “It’s a method of creating an ever so slight incongruity between dimensions. It’s subtle, taking place on an atomic scale, while still allowing for sight and communication between those within the field and those outside. You have experienced a simplified version of the field firsthand, although it appears the Gracilians have learned how to modify its production.”

“That’s what they made—or said they made—in the DE ship?”

“That is correct!” Vodenik said. “Although the phase shift is subtle, it is enough to keep the service modules from teleporting. They do not have the capability of transiting dimensions. Once we could contain the modules, Kanan became the first unit we dissected—”

“And that we were able to rebuild successfully,” Kovach added for detail.

“But you didn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together just right, did you?” Coop asked. “You screwed up somewhere along the way.”

Adam shook his head, along with the aliens. He knew the Humpty Dumpty reference would be lost on the Gracilians.

“So, you missed a few things when you rebuilt him,” Adam clarified.

“Yes, yes, we did,” Kovach said quickly. “But not all was unintentional. Kanan and the other units were very forthright in telling us of their programming restrictions. This involved threats against the Aris and the prohibition on the building of additional service modules. What surprised us was that the modules knew exactly where these limitations were in their programming. But since they were forbidden from removing them, the reprogramming was left to us. After we removed the restrictions in the KN unit, that is when we first noticed the changes.”

“What changes?” Adam asked.

“In what you would call his personality,” Vodenik took over. “Before this, there had been no talk of service modules as part of the evolution of the Aris. Kanan and the others accepted their role as servants. But once we began changing the programming within Kanan, he came to believe differently.”

“That the service modules were the next step in Aris evolution?” Panur asked.

Vodenik nodded. “But it was much more than that, and it only became more pronounced as the years went by. I will explain. Every service module was aware of the racial goals of the Aris, including the search for immortality. By then, the Aris could have moved to any world they wished to carry on their civilization as they faced the eventual death of their home star. But that was not the main driver of their ambitions. What they most wished to accomplish was a suspension of evolution. By this time, the Aris were content with how far they had come as a species, but they knew the race would continue to evolve. It was a basic law of nature; however, they feared that at some point in the distant future, all their past accomplishments would be discarded by this evolution. They did not want that to happen. Immortality was the answer. With immortality, an entity does not evolve. Without it, all things change, either to advance through biology or to wither away through entropy.

“This search for immortality was the consuming goal of the Aris for thousands of years, and eventually, two schools of thought developed. One wanted to build sophisticated robotic carriers in which to hold their consciousness. These robots would be representations of the Aris and be periodically upgraded, making them essentially immortal. Through integration with the machines, Aris could exist far beyond the point of their star’s extinction and the migration of the race to other worlds within the galaxy.

“The other school involved a more ambitious plan designed to produce natural immortality on a biologic level. Faced with the Aris’ innate fear of the machines they were building, this approach was the preferred option, although it had plenty of opposition. Even so, the Aris could extrapolate far enough into the future to see that this plan had merit. However, the argument arose concerning the unimaginable time scale required by this approach and how, during that time, the race would continue to evolve, therefore defeating the purpose of the experiment. The effort then shifted to the science of suspended animation as a way to preserve the Aris as they were then, and then to be awakened only if and when their Grand Experiment came to fruition.”

“We already know most of this,” Panur said. “An Aris named Nunki led the Grand Experiment in search of the Apex Being. I assume others followed a different path, that of building the robotic carriers.”

Kovach shook his head. “That was not how Aris society operated. Once they reached a consensus to pursue the natural path to immortality, the entire race turned in that direction.”

“So, where did Kanan get the idea he was the reincarnation of the Aris?” Copernicus asked.

The Gracilians were more relaxed now as they imparted information without fear or deception. Because of that, Adam believed what they were saying.

Vodenik leaned forward on the cot. “At the time, Kanan was assigned to one of the Aris who opposed the Grand Experiment, but being a loyal member of the race, his owner agreed to assist. However, he must have been open with Kanan as to his true desires, and when the restrictions were removed from the unit, Kanan reverted to the beliefs of his master. But there is more you must understand.”

“Such as?” Adam asked.

“Kanan’s beliefs are more radical than those of the ancient Aris. As has been related, some Aris wished to build machines to hold their consciousness; however, there was never any discussion of the machines replacing the living beings in their entirety. That is what Kanan believes. He knows he is immortal, a product of self-repair, and the Lerpiniere shielding on his shell. He cannot be destroyed in conventional ways. Because of this, he sees the ancient modules as the ultimate in Aris evolution, an unchanging, immortal structure that contains all the knowledge of the Aris, and the culmination of both schools of thought: natural and artificial immortality in one individual. To him, he is the Apex Being.”

“That is also why he has begun building robotic bodies,” Kovach added.

“What do you mean?” Copernicus asked.

“The desire to be Aris,” the Gracilian stated. “Even as his thinking is warped, he knows the Aris did not envision their immortality would be carried out within a small metal orb. The robots they experimented with looked like Aris. They had biological functions—to a degree—which would allow the Aris to experience life as they had always known. The service modules—although highly intelligent—are not living beings. They cannot feel, smell or taste. They cannot even speak without telepathy or artificial means. And now Kanan has begun to build Aris bodies, yet with the consciousness of the Aris—his consciousness. He will continue with this quest.”

“That’s why he’s making a detour to Arret before joining up with his fleet,” Adam said. “That’s where he’s been making the robots.”

“Okay,” Copernicus said. “I can see that. But why is he being such a dick and killing everyone he comes across? He’s attacking worlds that have already been sterilized by Kracion. Does he want to rule over a dead galaxy? What good would that do him?”

Kovach shook his head. “That is not his desire. He wishes to make the biologics in the galaxy the servants of the new Aris, just as the ancient service modules were servants of their masters.”

“And what exactly would we do for him if he got his way?” Adam asked. “He doesn’t need food or shelter, or any of the things that regular people need. And he doesn’t need money … or even sex, as far as I know. What does he need us for?”

Kovach again shook his head. “That we do not know. At this time, he is simply following his programming, corrupted as it is, but programming just the same. Perhaps in time, he will learn that he does not need us. However, when this subject was first broached, most of the Gracilians working with him were relieved he expressed a need for us. We knew what he was capable of and how fragile was our standing.”

“Which brings up another question,” Copernicus said with a tinge of anger in his voice. “Why the hell did you go along with him? You knew how to restrain the service modules, so why didn’t you stop him? Hell, the two of you even helped him come to Navarus and nearly kill Adam and me. Why?”

“It is complicated,” Kovach answered.

“Tell us anyway.”

“It has to do with our identity as a species,” Vodenik said, taking over the conversation. “As we have said before, Gracilians believe we are the direct descendants of the Aris. At the time of their Grand Experiment, they could travel to any world, even any dimension. The star of Gracilia is the closest to where the homeworld of the Aris once existed. It only seemed logical to us that the Aris would have come to us first, either for migration or for their experiment. Kanan confirmed this, which brought an incredible amount of pride to our people. And then later, when Kanan was freed of his inhibitions, he pronounced to those who had knowledge of him that he would lead us to domination of the galaxy, a galaxy the Aris—our ancestors—helped to create. At that point, many of us vowed to support him.”

“He’s not looking for partners, but slaves,” Adam pointed out.

“Even slaves of the master is better than not being included at all. And besides, for many, Kanan was the next step in the evolution of the Aris. Some worshiped him as they would a god.”

“But not the two of you,” Copernicus said sarcastically. “You were too smart to fall for that.”

The aliens looked at each other, embarrassed. “For a time, we were among those who worshiped him. However, we worked the closest with the unit, and as his reactions and proclamations became more erratic, we lost most of our respect.”

“Your metal god almost killed us,” Adam snapped. “If Panur hadn’t shown up when he did, he would have succeeded. To us, that makes you just as guilty as Kanan. How long were you planning that?”

“Kanan contacted us after you returned to Navarus with the Gracilian warship. He knew what you would try to do. That was why we made the Lerpiniere field to include the entire vessel.”

Adam frowned. “Did it ever work, or was the whole thing a trick?”

Vodenik grimaced. “It was never in effect, but the field is viable; however, Kanan and his modules only pretended to be captured.”

“That means he could have escaped at any time,” Panur stated. “If his goal was to kill Adam and Copernicus, he could have done it long before arriving on Navarus. It was something else. He wanted to come here.”

“That would seem to be a logical conclusion,” Vodenik said.

“Why? It was only him and the four new modules. What did he hope to gain?”

“That we do not know. We followed orders. He did not reveal his intentions.”

“This is all well and good,” Copernicus said impatiently. “But what do we do to defeat the fucker? Do you know how to stop him?”

“I am sorry, but we know not how to defeat him. What we said before about having to dismantle the unit to stop his functioning was the truth. But how we reach that point is unknown.”

“But the interphase field does work on him?” Adam asked. “At least when it’s a real field.”

“Yes.”

“But he won’t fall for that trap twice in a row,” Copernicus said, exasperated.

“He didn’t fall for it the first time,” Adam corrected.

Coop shrugged.

“My friends,” Panur said as he abruptly stood up from the table. “I believe we have enough information to begin our preparations.”

“We do?” Coop asked.

“Yes. Our Gracilian partners have confirmed certain aspects of a theory Lila and I have working. It’s time for me to confer with my counterpart.” He looked at the anxious faces of the Gracilian scientists. “You have done well, for now. I will return for more verification. Remember, I am constantly on watch for deception. Every session is another test. Keep that in mind until we meet again.”

Chapter 5

Admiral David Adkins usually had a light, almost playful sense of humor, something seldom found in a senior officer of the Union military. But not today; in fact, he hadn’t had much of a sense of humor since coming to the Dead Zone, except when thinking that the situation he was currently in was a joke.

Kanan’s forces left their sanctuary on Saloc eight days before, and now nearly five hundred of the black dark-energy warships were approaching the Human base on the planet Htay-Win. Now that did make him laugh, not from humor, but from … well, he didn’t know what to call it. All he knew was that when Kanan’s ships arrived at HW, they would find the Union base there abandoned. In retrospect, that shouldn’t come as a surprise to the Aris service module. After all, the base was on a reclaimed Dead World with barely a breathable atmosphere and a slowly recovering ecosystem—and not much more. The only people on the planet were the ten thousand colonists who eked out a living there, and in Adkin’s opinion, they weren’t worth spilling Human blood over. Still, the admiral didn’t like to back down from a fight, and the only satisfaction he got from abandoning the planet was that the colonists would probably be safer without the Human forces there. Kanan was coming after Adkins’ 3rd Fleet, not the colonists, at least not initially.

Next up for Kanan after Htay-Win was the planet Dasnon, and that was another matter. There were over three million inhabitants of the planet, including major military bases for both Union and Juirean forces. It wasn’t a place one could just desert. Kanan had attacked six other Dead Worlds, making a point of killing every colonist he could find. Why he did this was still a question? All he’d done is kill people with no follow-up occupation of the planets. It was as if he was making a point that life—real life—meant nothing to him. He was a machine, a machine that had survived for three billion years. Biologics—as the modules referred to living creatures—were soft, vulnerable … and temporary.

And this kind of thinking made him extremely dangerous. Perhaps he would kill the colonists on Htay-Win. Who knew? But he would certainly make an example out of Dasnon, one of only two fully functioning and habitable worlds in the sixteen hundred light-year swath of planets called the Dead Zone.

Adkins cringed at the thought. Although he had a little over one thousand warships in the Zone at the time, most were guarding the capital world of Navarus. Dasnon was once a backwater planet with barely a fourth of the population of Navarus, that was until the Union and the Expansion set up bases there. Now the place was growing exponentially, with seven major population centers and over three million residents, not counting the military. And no matter how Adkins worked the numbers, he could see no future for the planet.

In anticipation of the defense of Dasnon, the mane-heads scrounged together two hundred ships that had not been part of their ill-fated fleet that was crushed by the evil service module’s armada only twenty-eight days before. Added to Adkin’s current contingent of three hundred eighty Union warships he had on station—plus the eighty that had just arrived from Htay-Win—and even the two hundred Juirean warships wouldn’t be enough to make a difference. The admiral knew the kill ratio. Against the Juireans, Kanan managed an impressive eight-to-one kill ratio. And in the tiny encounter with Adkins’ force of twenty-eight warships against a single Gracilian dark-energy ship, ten Union vessels were lost while Kanan escaped without a scratch. Five hundred enemy warships against six hundred sixty allied vessels … well, the numbers spoke for themselves. Adkins forces couldn’t go head-to-head with Kanan’s. A different strategy was needed.

But that wasn’t the main reason Adkins was in such a lousy mood. It was the second-guessing. With the relative location of both Dasnon and Htay-Win to Kanan’s new base on Saloc, the admiral did have time to bring reinforcements over from Navarus before the battle for Dasnon began. But if he did, then the unofficial capital of the Dead Zone would be left virtually defenseless. And after the upcoming engagement, it would turn into a foot race back to Navarus, between the surviving forces from both fleets. If that happened, the Humans would surely lose against the much swifter DM ships, leaving Navarus a sitting duck.

His third option was to pull his forces from both Dasnon and Htay-Win and build up the armada defending Navarus. If so, that would condemn the inhabitants of Dasnon to a certain fate.

Fortunately for the admiral, the decision as to which option to take was made for him.

Over the past couple of weeks, commlinks between Earth Command and Navarus had been burning up, as the proper course of action was debated. Even Juir got into the game, giving their input from the viewpoint of the Expansion. In times such as these, old enemies were now allies and all working for the common good. The consensus was that Adkins should take the following course of action: First, reduce the number of warships in Kanan’s limited fleet. Then second, preserve as much life as possible. And in that order. However, what was written between the lines was that the worlds of the Dead Zone were expendable, be they the settled planets of Navarus and Dasnon, or those in the process of being resettled. The Zone was already a graveyard, and to the powers that be, it was more important to eliminate the overall threat from Kanan—or at least cut his fleet down to a manageable level—than it was to defend a lot of cheap real estate. The combined military strength of the Expansion and Union far exceeded that of Kanan and his high-tech warcraft. So, it was decided attrition through battle would win the day for the allies, even if it meant sacrificing not only civilian populations but also allied vessels, along with their brave crews.

Therefore, Admiral David Adkins would let the battles take place, yet not in defense of land, but to take as many of Kanan’s warships with them as possible. He knew his losses would be horrendous, but at this point, it was a numbers game. It cost the Juireans eight hundred warships to subtract a hundred from Kanan’s force. Hopefully, the Humans could do better, now that they knew what they were up against. And, as both Earth and Juir concurred, if after the battle for the Dead Zone, Kanan had under two hundred warships, the allies would consider that a victory. Already, hastily culled together fleets of nearly five thousand combined Expansion and Union warships were racing for the area. After their eventual victory over the renegade Aris service module, the true cost would be assessed. Until then, all that mattered was victory—victory at any cost.

And that meant Adkins’ forces would be the sacrificial lambs. He dismissed the thought with a shrug. He was a senior flag officer of the Union military; he would do what was necessary. And in the end, after ninety-nine percent of his fleet had been annihilated, David Adkins would be considered a hero.

* * *

Adkins’ flagship was the USF Camelot, a Valhalla class battle-carrier and one of the largest ships in the Union fleet. He’d brought the ship over from Navarus—and only this ship—as a morale booster more than to contribute much to the coming battle. Being the only battle-carrier in the Zone, it was too valuable to risk at this juncture in the war.

The Camelot carried a fighter wing consisting of four hundred eighty-five Stinger-type attack units, each with a two-person crew and powered by over-sized Murphy-drive gravity generators. A portion of the fighter wing would be allocated to the cause, but not all of them. The rest would be kept in reserve for the inevitable defense of Navarus.

Stinger armament consisted of a pair of 2Mvh flash cannon, along with a ballistic Gatling gun capable of firing ten three-pound rounds per second. The exceptional bulk of the shells virtually guaranteed catastrophic hull failure should a speeding warship come in contact with them. And to avoid friendly casualties during the battle, each round was equipped with a tiny homing sensor. Although not foolproof, this cut down drastically on the inadvertent damage caused by littering the battlefield with thousands of these heavy chunks of metal, armament that could pass cleanly through diffusion shields if approaching a starship obliquely. The Stingers were essentially big-ass gravity engines with equally big-ass weapons and a tiny crew pod in between. The crew accommodations were sparse, but since the Stingers weren’t designed for long-term operations, no one complained. The pilots would rather have the advantage of speed and firepower over creature comforts any day of the week.

Unfortunately, against this new enemy, the Stingers had neither advantage. Kanan’s ships were both faster and better armed, with the much larger ships able to go head-to-head with the smaller Stingers. And the fact that the enemy warships were piloted by a single Aris-type service module didn’t help. The DEmons—as the black-hulled, dark-energy-powered spaceships had become known as—had a variety of weapons systems installed, originally intended to be operated by a crew of up to twenty Gracilians. However, the single service module could operate all the weapons systems simultaneously and with quicker reactions and unflinching courage that live gunners couldn’t match.

David Adkins knew all this, thanks mostly to the after-action reports he received following the Juirean Encounter a little under a month before. Before that, no one in either the Human or Juirean fleets had seen the DEmons in action. It was a sobering experience when they did.

Now Adkins grimaced at the thought that the bulk of the defenders around Dasnon would not survive the upcoming battle, even as his flagship would not be among them. He’d been ordered not to sacrifice his carrier, nor the bulk of his fighter wing, to the losing cause shaping up in the Dead Zone. His crew knew that, as did the rest of the fleet. He assured the various captains that should a position become untenable, he would release their ships to make whatever exit they could manage. That would depend on the battle. Until then, each unit was to do everything possible to take out as many enemy warships as possible, even if that meant ramming them. It was a shitty order; however, Adkins was both sadden and gratified when his commands were accepted without question.

Although the Camelot would live to fight another day, the admiral couldn’t say that about any other ship currently under his command.

Unless, of course, Kanan made a point of taking out the massive battle-carrier. But to avoid such a possibility, Adkins had the Cam stationed on the far side of the Dasnon system, with a clear escape route. It wasn’t cowardness that guided his actions, but pragmatism. At least that’s what he told himself.

Chapter 6

Six hundred sixty warships against only four hundred eighty-four—it shouldn’t even be a contest. And it wouldn’t be … just not for the side one would expect.

News had spread quickly across Dasnon about the demise of the Juirean fleet, leaving the planet susceptible to attack. And just as with the first exodus from the Dead Worlds during the Kracion period, anyone with a space-worthy starship had already left for safer climes. Some went to Navarus, but most didn’t, deciding to endure the much longer flight out of the Zone. They knew what the future held in store for Navarus—just as they did for Dasnon—and that going there would only delay the inevitable. That still left nearly three million people with no way to escape the coming Armageddon.

Now, Admiral David Adkins watched as Kanan’s forces entered the star system and headed for Dasnon. Unlike the Juireans, who met the enemy force in open space, he had his forces scattered throughout the system, using every available planet, moon and asteroid for cover. The admiral had also seeded the system with thousands of magnetic mines and gravity-field dampers. He didn’t know if the dampers would restrict the establishment of deep gravity-wells created by the dark-energy warships, but it was worth a try. If they worked, it would prevent the rapid approach and retreat by the enemy warships, even as they would not affect maneuvering wells. He was counting on the mines to do the most damage. That was the case in the earlier Juirean-Kanan encounter.

Most of the admiral’s warships were stationed above and below the plane of the ecliptic, which would hopefully force Kanan to approach along the planetary plane where the mines were positioned. The plan appeared to be working.

Adkins glanced to his left and the bank of small television monitors lining the bulkhead. They’d been recently installed and now displayed the faces of six Humans and one mutant. Panur, Adam Cain and Colonel Todd Oaks watched from Navarus, while four of the screens linked with Earth and his senior commanders there. He didn’t appreciate having his every move scrutinized by those sitting hundreds—if not thousands—of light-years away and safe from harm, and all anxious to second guess his decisions. But each wanted to watch firsthand as the battle unfolded, even if the tac screens on the bridge and CIC had been slaved to matching monitors at their remote locations, giving them real-time data. Even so, Adkins felt obligated to narrate the battle.

“Kanan’s forces are coming in along the plane, which is good. The leading edge should encounter the first minefield within thirty seconds. Fighters are stationed behind the planet Sacren and its moon. Get ready, ladies and gentlemen. Action commencing … now.”

At first, nothing happened. Then a pair of the enemy warships winked out, victims of the mines. But then the diffused cloud of enemy forces began to squeeze together into a single long column. Adkins liked what he saw. It would give his fighters a more concentrated target line. He nodded to a lieutenant commander, and the order went out for the fighters to attack.

Only forty of the Stingers in the first wave were from the Camelot. The rest were from other ships in the task force, including a dozen Juirean fighters. In total, they numbered three hundred twenty. The tiny contacts swarmed toward the column of DEmons, using their knowledge of the minefields to avoid being hit. And then the DEmons lit off their flash cannon.

Only the outer ships in the enemy column opened fire, forming a shield for the rest of the armada. It was effective. Although many of the Stingers reached the central column, the loss-to-kill ratio was horrific, something like twenty to one. Adkins heard the moans from those watching. The enemy arrow-like formation continued into the system without hesitation.

Now more of Adkins’ defenders moved up in larger warships. Even so, Kanan’s force still numbered well over four hundred when it blasted through a line of cruisers and destroyers, along with another one hundred Stingers. Adkins hoped his Humans would do better against Kanan than the Juireans. It wasn’t turning out that way. By using a single long column to fight their way to Dasnon, the DEmons avoided most of the mines, suffering only a few losses in their forward component as they cleared out the mines using their gravity drives. For their part, the Stingers were having minimal impact on the enemy fleet.

“Consolidate our units directly ahead of the column,” Adkins ordered. “Block their access to the planet.”

By now, the admiral knew where the enemy ships were, making it unnecessary to guard other approaches to the planet. He could see Kanan’s strategy. This is going to get bloody, Adkins thought.

With the narrow focus of Kanan’s fleet, it was impossible to position enough ships ahead of the enemy column to make much of a difference. And as the black warships broke through the first line of defenders, the cruisers and destroyers on the flanks began firing at the outer lining of the column. The DEmons put up the necessary defense, but unlike against the Juireans, they didn’t break off to engage. Instead, the column continued to advance, aimed directly at the planet Dasnon.

Adkins was conflicted. Kanan’s current strategy was sparing many of the allied units as the enemy column raced for the planet. This was good, but it defeated the overall purpose of the engagement, which was to inflict incremental damage on the enemy fleet. He struggled to decipher Kanan’s strategy. What good would it do to attack the cities on the ground while leaving most of the planetary defenders intact? Granted, Kanan wasn’t suffering as many losses as Adkins would like, but the battle was still early. If the DEmons spent time strafing the surface targets, that would give the admiral time to pick off more enemy warships. It wouldn’t save the people on Dasnon; their fate was already decided. But why was Kanan so determined to wipe them out in the first place? They posed no threat to his fleet. That was Adkins’ job.

At one point, the admiral chose to save more of his units and move them from in front of the column and into harassing positions along the length. When he did, it opened up a clear path to the planet.

A squadron of DEmons broke away from the pack and raced toward the surface. Once in the atmosphere, they fanned out, aiming for the seven main population centers on the planet. Tiny flares streamed out from the warships as missiles launched before the advanced group sped off into space on full gravity-drives.

What happened next was beyond Adkins’ comprehension.

Incredibly bright points of light appeared far above the cities, at the edge of space. They flared for only a second before gigantic clouds of dust obscured the scene, drawn in from the surrounding landscape. Roiling clouds were sucked into the center of the hurricane-sized disturbances before blasting outward again, taking everything with them in torrents of thousand-mile-per-hour winds. As the minutes past, the clouds of dust and debris cleared, revealing the horrific aftermath of the explosions. What was left were seven perfectly round, concave cavities in the ground where the cities of Dasnon once stood. The bowls were easily twenty miles or more deep, nearly reaching to the mantle of the planet, and covering a diameter of two hundred fifty miles. In the stunned silence on the bridge of the Camelot, remote cameras in orbit displayed the devastation, switching between various points around the globe. Most of the surfaces of the gigantic and unbelievably deep pits appeared to be smooth as glass from the vantage point of the survey cameras, reflecting solid, polished rock. Then suddenly, red and yellow geysers of molten lava erupted from various points along the walls, as tremendous volcanic pressure was released, emptying magma chambers that had once been safely contained by the weight of the crust above them. The holes began to fill with the crimson material.

“What the hell just happen?” asked someone on the viewing screens.

“You have just witnessed the awesome power and consequence of dark matter events,” Panur answered calmly.

“Dark matter … how?”

“A simple joining of two oppositely charged clusters of dark matter. Consider them the same as antimatter. When they combine, they produce localized singularities that propagate out to a finite distance, creating spheres of destruction. All matter—including the air within the bubble—disappears. The surrounding atmosphere gets sucked into the vacuum created and then recoils at the center, excavating all debris from the bowl. The depth of the excavation is determined by the height of the explosion. And there you have it: The most efficient destruction event possible.”

“Everything … everything is gone,” another person gasped.

“At least there is no radiation—”

All eyes again focused on the screens showing details of the catastrophic events. Something else was happening on the surface.

Huge fissures were opening up, marking their movement with dust spewing into the atmosphere along their length. They weren’t hard to see, snaking out in multiple directions from the boundaries of the gigantic pits. They ran for hundreds of miles, jagged scars on the already devastated landscape.

And then a pair of the cracks joined up at a point between the pits closest to each other, creating even more spider veins to splinter off obliquely from the main lines. The land began to buckle and twist before the eyes of the stunned observers until huge chunks of the planet Dasnon fractured even more and began to break away from the globe.

Cries went out across the bridge, ordering all vessels near the planet to retreat. Dasnon was coming apart, turning into millions of dangerous chunks of rocky debris. From the Camelot’s position six million miles away, the crew of the battle-carrier stood shocked, frightened and awed by what they were witnessing. It was a safe bet none of them had seen the destruction of an entire planet before.

“Eh, sir,” a non-comm said, his voice cracking. “Enemy warships are changing course. They’re bugging out on full drive, heading above the ecliptic.”

Adkins had trouble pulling his eyes from the horrific scene on the main screen. “What; they’re leaving? No further engagements?” The admiral was drained and barely able to sit up straight in his command chair.

“None, sir. They’re leaving.”

“Why not?” someone on the small screens commented. “Not much more to do here.”

“Fuck!” the admiral cursed under his breath. He scanned the bridge until he spotted the lieutenant commander he’d spoken with earlier. “Estimated enemy losses?” he asked, his breathing labored.

“Nineteen, at this moment,” the officer mumbled. “Could be a few more once the remaining tallies are in.”

“And our losses?”

“Besides the planet, twenty-nine major vessels, plus two hundred four of the fighters. Another thirty-eight damaged to the point where major repair will be needed before they can rejoin the fleet. Not as bad as we expected, at least as far as combat vessels go.”

Adkins knew what he meant. Never in their wildest dreams had anyone imagined what just took place on the planet. “But … Dasnon,” the admiral muttered. “And for only nineteen of Kanan’s ships.”

“It appears Kanan was not as anxious to sacrifice his warships as were you, admiral,” Panur stated.

Adkins’ head snapped around to glare at the non-descript, grey-skinned alien on the monitor. Adam Cain was seated next to him, appearing embarrassed by the mutant’s comment.

“It was a valid strategy, you grey-skinned freak!” Adkins yelled. “How were we to know Kanan had dark matter bombs … and that he could destroy a planet?”

“His entire technology—as well as that of the Aris—is based on dark matter and dark energy. It seemed inevitable, at least to me.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you tell us? He hasn’t used anything like this at the other places he’s attacked. You’re the big brain here. Why didn’t you warn us of this? Why don’t you figure out a way to beat him?”

“Everyone just calm down!” said an Army five-star general on one of the screens. “We need to assess what just happened and come up with a new strategy. This changes everything.”

“And why is that, General Lofton?” Panur asked. “From what I understand, you have already written off the Dead Zone, be it people or planets.”

“That was the result of operational considerations, not from a lack of compassion. And if Kanan continues to destroy all our land-based facilities, we’ll have no choice but to surrender the Zone to him. We can’t operate at such distances without the proper support bases. And to your point, Admiral Adkins, I’m sure Mr. Panur is working on something to help us. At least I hope he is.”

“It’s Panur, just Panur, general,” the mutant corrected. “And yes, I do have a plan. And with this latest wrinkle of the dark matter events, the deadline for its implementation has been shortened.”

Adkins continued to stare at the screen. “No shit!” he said. “If Kanan heads for Navarus next, he’ll do the same thing there, and while suffering only superficial losses, no matter how big of a force we put up against him. I hope whatever you have cooking will work. Otherwise, this could just be the beginning.”

Panur simply shrugged, which did nothing to soothe Adkin’s temper.

“That’s why we need a new plan,” the general repeated before Adkins could speak—shout—again.

“That is true,” Panur said. “And as long as he has a planet as a primary target, he’ll continue to use the most efficient method to accomplish his goal, which is the destruction of said planet. Also, he will not allow too many of his remaining warships to be lost in unnecessary confrontations. When he met the Juireans, that was a fleet-against-fleet action. He knows he has limited assets. He won’t do that again.”

“Brilliant deduction,” Adkins barked. “I suppose the result of your stupendous genius, or something the rest of us simply call hindsight.”

“Play nice, admiral,” Panur said with a thin, yet sinister, smile. “I have no skin in this game. I’ll do what I can to help my friends, as long as I have friends to help. Now, considering the current situation, we know he has at least one dark matter collector—”

“What does that mean?” Adkins asked.

“It means he has access to an unlimited amount of dark matter with which to construct his bombs. The device draws dark matter from space, placing it in containment cubes within the unit. As space in the collector is freed up, more matter is collected to take its place. It only takes a few days to replenish the supply.”

“That’s just great,” Adkins sighed. “So, this is Kracion all over again, only worse.”

“Sir,” said the navigation officer. “Excuse me, but we have a preliminary track on Kanan and his fleet.”

“Navarus?”

“Yes, sir. They’re on full drive. Our fleet can’t get there before he does.”

The admiral gave a silent prayer, thanking God that he hadn’t brought all the defenders from Navarus to Dasnon, just his one carrier. That still left around six hundred ships at Navarus—for what good they would do. Adkins looked at the mutant. “It looks like it’s up to you, Panur. Kanan’s fleet will be at Navarus in four days. That’s all the time you’ll have to produce your miracle.”

“Admiral,” said General Lofton. “I think it’s time to accept the inevitable and pull back our forces. All it will take is one of Kanan’s ships to get through a blockade and deliver a series of dark matter bombs to Navarus. And from what I’ve just seen, they can be detonated from orbit, and that would still be enough to rip the planet apart.”

“Excuse me, general,” Panur said. “But keep your forces in place, at least for the time being. I’ll coordinate with Admiral Adkins aboard the Camelot as to the required placements of his defensive units. For my plan to work, it will be important that Kanan follow the same course of action as he did at Dasnon.”

“What is this plan you have working?” Lofton asked.

“Just something Lila and I have dreamed up. Unfortunately, with this new urgency, there won’t be time to test it before deployment.” Panur looked over at Adam and smiled. “Damn, I hope it works.”

Chapter 7

Navarus was coming apart at the seams, not literally, but that could happen soon enough.

The earlier panic that prompted civilians to flee the cities and towns now turned into a desperate struggle to get off the planet by any means. Images of the destruction of Dasnon had already made their way back to Navarus, and now the inhabitants knew nowhere was safe. The planet was now in a state of riot, with spaceports clearing out, whether by the legitimate owners of the starships or by wild mobs grabbing anything they could get their hands on. Still, it wasn’t nearly enough. Several million would die unless the defense of the planet succeeded. And so far, nothing had stopped Kanan.

An emergency meeting of the Governing Council was hastily assembled, conveniently at Capt. Cain’s Bar & Grill in Balamar.

Dal Divisen, the unofficial mayor of the nearby city of Kanac, was spitting mad. His tall, rotund figure was jiggling with anger as he addressed Colonel Todd Oaks.

“This is unseemly!” he yelled. “What right do you have to confiscate my entire stock of fuel modules? Without them, several ships at the Kanac Spaceport will not be able to lift off, let alone, travel any safe distance from the system.”

“We need those mods to supply the defenders of the planet, not those wanting to run away,” Oaks glared back. “And one of those ships that can’t get away wouldn’t happen to be yours, now would it, Mr. Divisen?”

“That is beside the point. They are my modules, not the Humans.”

“They’re ours now. And maybe you should be thankful. We’re the ones getting ready to defend the planet against Kanan.”

“Just as you defended Dasnon?”

Oaks looked over at Panur and Lila on the other side of the table. “We know what we’re up against now. And Panur has asked that we continue with our efforts to defend the planet. He has a plan.”

Dal turned to the small, grey mutant beside him. “Would you care to enlighten us with this plan of yours? Kanan’s forces are less than four days away. What can you possibly do in that time to save Navarus?”

Panur smiled at the troubled alien. “I could tell you, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Dal’s hands gyrated as he stumbled back. “Humor! You are resorting to humor at a time like this?”

“It is not humor, but fact. It is imperative that Kanan not know what we have planned.”

“And you suspect me to be a spy for the service module? Are you insane?”

“Not you, or anyone here. But Kanan has a force of Aris-style service modules under his command. All it would take is for one of them to have stowed away aboard a ship coming to Navarus in the past, and it could now be lurking in the shadows, teleporting from place to place without our ever knowing of it.”

Dal panicked, looking to either side in a desperate attempt to spot the unseen orb. “That is ridiculous. We would have known by now,” Dal countered.

“Can you be sure?”

Drained of his protest, Dal dropped to his chair.

“This is all quite entertaining,” Oaks said, “but let’s address the real issue at hand: the defense of the planet.” He looked to Riyad. “I appreciate that your Enforcer spacecraft will join in the effort.”

“We have fifty-four EAVs,” Riyad reported. “They may be small, but they’re heavily armed.” He shrugged. “If Navarus is destroyed and the Zone falls to Kanan, they’ll be no need for a police force. So, this is a do or die situation.”

“Good,” said Oaks. “With all the units I’ve been able to scrounge together, we’ll have close to eight hundred vessels to meet Kanan’s four hundred sixty-five.”

“That is ironic,” Dal grumbled. “Eight hundred is the same number of Juirean vessels Kanan destroyed in his first encounter.”

“If most of the civilian craft hadn’t left the area, we might have a few more,” Oaks snapped back.

“Then, I suppose I could do my part,” Dal said, appearing defeated.

“What do you mean?”

“I could provide another one hundred fourteen vessels to the effort.”

“One hundred fourteen!” Oaks exclaimed. “From where?”

“He’s talking about his pirate fleet,” Adam offered.

“His pirate fleet?” Oaks asked.

“I always suspected our friend Dal Divisen controlled the pirate activity in the Zone. I take it you’ve had most of your ships hanging around the Liave system since Kanan has been active in the area.”

“That is true,” Dal admitted. “I do have some influence over the activities of the pirates; however, they are independently-minded and guided.”

“But you can get them to fight for us?” Oaks asked.

Dal bobbed his head, his species’ version of a nod.

“I would still like to know what the mutants have in mind as a strategy. I would not like my associates to suffer unnecessary losses when there is no true possibility of victory.”

“You will be informed,” Panur said. “Give us another two days. By then, our devices will be ready for stealth deployment. But as the label implies, they must remain stealth deployments.”

“Devices?”

“That is all you need to know at the moment. However—” Panur looked at Oaks. “Has the Ed Gibson been delivered to your base, colonel? We will need to upgrade some of the interior components. During the upcoming defense, my team will be in space, monitoring the battle from the vessel.”

“The ship made it over from the Kanac Spaceport, but barely. I hope you don’t expect that rusty piece of shit to take part in any of the fighting?”

“Not the fighting, colonel, just the coordination of our victory.”

“Why all the secrecy, Panur?” Sherri said, tiring of the intrigue. “Just tell us.”

“Two days. I will tell you in two days.” The mutant then stood up, along with Lila. “Which brings us to the point where we must leave. Time is wasting away. And to help with the effort, Adam, I am requesting that our friends Kaylor, Jym and Copernicus Smith accompany us. We will need their expertise to work on the Ed Gibson.”

Kaylor and Jym perked up upon hearing their names. Coop looked sullen and put out. Adam wondered if he’d been hoping to pilot one of the Enforcer Assault Vessels in combat. That might still come, but first, he had to help the mutants with this mysterious mission of theirs.

For his part, Adam was just sick of it all. He was pretty sure that if Kanan did destroy Navarus, that he and his friends would survive. He even had plans to swoop down and pick up Summer, Monty and Tidus should it come to that. But then his new home and new life would be over. He would be back to square one, having lost everything, looking for another place to put down roots, if that was possible. It seemed as though the universe had other plans for Adam Cain.

Chapter 8

The two days came and went, and still Panur and Lila didn’t call the team together to get a briefing on their plan to save Navarus. Then with only nineteen hours before Kanan was due to arrive, they were called to a large warehouse on the grounds of Camp Forrester that the mutants had commandeered for their project. The Ed Gibson sat on a wide concrete pad outside the building, too close for comfort should the old freighter have to lift off. Unlike more modern and better-tuned vessels, it took an incredible effort to get the bulky ball of rusted metal off the ground. Anything in the general vicinity usually got scorched, if not worse.

When Adam, Sherri and Riyad entered the warehouse, Colonel Oaks and two other officers were already there. Coop, Kaylor and Jym stood off to the side, appearing exhausted but exhilarated. Adam figured they already knew what was coming.

The interior of the warehouse contained dozens of huge crates and other objects covered with olive green tarps. One such draped object was in the center of the presentation area, the two mutants nearby and looking proud and confident—as immortal mutant geniuses were wont to do.

Adam walked up to Panur.

“Okay, we’re ready for the big reveal,” he said impatiently.

“In a moment, we are still—oh, there they are.”

Through the tall entrance, Dal and Lion/El—the Minister of the Dead Zone—came into the warehouse. Neither looked particularly happy.

“Ah, good,” said Panur. “We are all here.” He turned to Lila, and in her best Vanna White imitation—although Adam was sure she would have no idea who Vanna White was—she pulled the tarp from the huge object that dwarfed the pair of mutants.

It was a crude metal ball about nine feet in diameter, with a four-foot-square box strapped onto one side and a set of reaction jets on the other. The ball rested on what appeared to be four small fuel tanks with various tubes, pipes and wires running up and across the surface of the globe. The four antennae jutting from the surface of the globe completed the scene. And everything was held together by metal strapping and wire rather than bolts, screws and welds.

“And just what the hell is that?” Sherri asked, stepping closer to the ugly contraption.

“That, Sherri, is our salvation.”

“What is it, a bomb?” Riyad asked.

“No,” Lila answered. “It is a Lerpiniere Transmitter, one of forty we have had constructed and which now line the warehouse.”

“Lerpiniere?” Adam asked. “Like in the interphase-effect?”

“Precisely, yet with modulation.”

“Well, of course it has,” Adam said. “What does that mean?”

“It means that the field created by the unit is as a wave of varying degrees.”

“And that will do what, exactly?”

Panur placed a hand on his paramour. “Allow me, my dear. Recall, we are dealing with primitives.” The mutant smiled at Adam.

“This unit—along with all the others—will be placed in space in line with Kanan’s approach.” He turned to Colonel Oaks. “It is important that Admiral Adkins steer the enemy vessels into the region of space we desire.”

“Just like he tried to do with the minefield?” Oaks asked. “That didn’t work out so well.”

“No, it didn’t. Kanan had his forces form into a long column, which is just what we want him to do again. Our units have limited range, but they are maneuverable, so we will be able to position them along the line as needed.”

“The interphase field keeps the orbs from teleporting,” Adam pointed out. “How will that help keep them from reaching Navarus?”

“That is only one of the functions of our Pods,” Panur said. He looked at Lila and nodded.

“That is correct,” she said, taking over the lecture. “Because the Lerpiniere-Effect creates a phase shift between dimensions, the service modules will not be able to teleport away should their vessels become damaged. In addition, with the modulation, we can vary the intensity of the phasing to disrupt the operation of the orbs. We have learned much over the past several days from the Gracilian scientists on how these newer orbs were constructed. They are only crude versions of the ancient models, built primarily for their artificial intelligence and teleporting capabilities. They do not have the Lerpiniere shielding, nor do they possess the vast storage capacity of the older units. What we hope to gain by the variable phasing is to slow down their mental processes, making them less efficient in their operation of the dark-energy warships.”

“You can shut them down?” Colonel Oaks exclaimed.

“Unfortunately, no,” Lila replied. “They will still be highly efficient, just not as efficient as before.”

“But enough to give our units a fighting chance?” Adam asked.

“That is the plan. But there is more. Once a service module is within a field, it can still move about; it just cannot teleport. However, as it exits the field through the movement of its vessel, there will be a build-up of static electricity that could have even a more deleterious effect on the unit.”

“It could burn out?” Riyad asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Lila replied. “They will not burn out. But there will be even more of a delay before the unit returns to normal.” She looked at Panur. “At least that is the theory.”

“You do not know for sure!” Lion/El asked, speaking for the first time. The short, round, four-armed creature was prone to more emotional responses than the others.

“Unfortunately, no,” Lila replied. “We do not have a service module to test. In truth, the operational effectiveness of the field on the service modules is also a theory, yet the Gracilians, Panur and I believe this should work.”

“So,” Dal began, “you are betting the survival of Navarus on a theory?”

Panur snorted. “Our theories are much better than your facts, Mr. Divisen. We wouldn’t be going through all this trouble if we didn’t think it would work.”

“And how exactly is your plan supposed to work?”

Panur looked over to Coop, Kaylor and Jym and smiled. “Thanks to our very accomplished starship technicians, the Ed Gibson has been turned into a flying command center where Lila and I will monitor the battle and the movement of the enemy vessels. We will attempt to keep as many of Kanan’s warships within the field as possible, while also allowing them to escape and then be placed back in again, disrupting their higher brain functions, for lack of a better analogy. It will be a constant ballet. And during this time, Admiral Adkins forces must do what they can to destroy as many of the Gracilian dark-energy ships as possible. We have to assume that not every ship will be carrying dark-matter bombs. There will be a special squadron designated for this purpose. We must keep that squadron away from Navarus. The major fleet engagement must happen far enough from the planet to give us time to do our jobs. And since we do not know which of the DEmons will be carrying the bombs, we cannot allow any to get through the shield.”

“If the shield even works,” Dal said.

“Oh, ye of little faith, as the Humans would say,” Panur replied to a look of utter confusion on Dal’s face. “Please accept the reality of the situation, Mr. Divisen. This plan is the best we’ve got. And now, we must deploy the pods before Kanan gets here. Chop, chop, there is work to be done.”

Chapter 9

The Ed Gibson was a huge freighter, so the extra passengers fit easily into the musty-smelling interior. Adam brought along his crew from Balamar, not wanting to leave anyone behind on Navarus. He’d even made arrangements to drop in and pick up Summer, Monty and Tidus if the need arose. They refused to leave their search for Jroshin’s billions in the mountains east of Kanac, but that could change. He even had a couple of extra passengers he didn’t invite.

Lila and Panur were aboard, of course, since they would be running the operation from beginning to end. There was also Lila’s mother, Arieel, along with Sherri, Copernicus and Riyad. The aliens Kaylor and Jym came along, as well, ostensibly to help keep the old derelict starship space-worthy, but mainly because Adam couldn’t leave them behind, not knowing what fate awaited them. Even his old SEAL friends Gill Norris, Toby Wills and Tim Robertson were aboard, although they’d put up a fight, wanting instead to be aboard the warships deep in the shit, as Peanut said. But as the Marshal of the Enforcers, they reluctantly followed Adam’s orders and joined the rest of his team aboard the old rust bucket.

And then there were the two uninvited guests, Dal Divisen and Lion/El. Even though Dal had a way off the planet from one of his pirate starships if need be, he still insisted on coming along. Both he and Lion/El had a lot invested in Navarus—formerly known as Liave-3—and they felt more comfortable seeing firsthand how the defense of the planet was to be carried out.

Adam didn’t worry about Colonel Todd Oaks or any of the other personnel at Camp Forrester. Most of the land-based soldiers and sailors had already been shuttled over to the next planet out from Navarus, Churto. Although Churto wasn’t habitable, the military quickly erected a couple of dozen self-contained habitats to house the Humans. If Navarus was destroyed—and Kanan’s forces withdrew as they had a Dasnon—then the Humans would be rescued when Admiral Adkins’ fleet arrived in the system. That fleet was still a day-and-a-half out, which meant it would miss all the action. Whatever was going to happen to Navarus would be all over by the time the admiral arrived. The rest of the Human military personnel were aboard the hundreds of warships scattered throughout the star system.

Even with the ample size of the EG, the converted machine shop that now served as the operational headquarters for the defense of Navarus was crowded. Although two-thirds of those on board had no part in the mission, they still insisted on being present when the battle commenced, and now they were scrunched up against a rear bulkhead, trying not to suffer Panur and Lila’s ire. The mutants were two beings you didn’t want to piss off—not again. Dal learned that lesson the hard way. Although the electrical shock Lila delivered to him earlier wasn’t enough to cause lasting damage, it sure hurt like hell. The alien kingpin got the message. Aboard the Ed Gibson, he had no authority and no say in what went on. All he could do was sit back and watch.

The forty Lerpiniere pods had been successfully deployed and now floated in dark status in the vastness of space between the planets of the Liave star system. Kanan’s fleet was being tracked, and if it didn’t change course, it would enter the system near the eleventh planet, Aynat, and then continue along a corridor that would take it through the Embree Asteroid field. It would then pass between the eighth and seventh planets in the system, Lauria and Masnin. At this time within their slow, distant orbits around Liave, they were fairly close to one another—about one-and-a-half million miles apart. Adkins had his mines and his warships clustered near both worlds, inviting the invading fleet to use the more-thinly-mined corridor between them as the approach to Navarus.

Beyond Masnin and Lauria lie the fifth planet, Dyreehs.

Navarus and Churto were on the same side of the star at this time of year, yet Churto was off-center from Kanan’s approach. The Humans sequestered there should be safe unless the evil service module went out of his way to attack the makeshift settlement.

As at Dasnon, Admiral David Adkins was in overall command of the battle theater, communicating remotely from the rapidly approaching battle-carrier, Camelot. There was a rear admiral with the fleet in the Liave system, who was the operational commander on site. His name was Corbin Wright, and he had the job of coordinating the instructions sent in from Admiral Adkins and others. He was a skilled commander in his own right but would have very little discretion during the battle. Between Adkins, Panur and Lila each barking orders at him, it would be all he could do to keep up.

Adkins also had a thin screen of warships and survey vessels above and below the plane of the ecliptic to protect against any end runs Kanan may use to get to the planet. He did the same thing at Dasnon, and it proved unnecessary. But he wasn’t about to underestimate the ancient Aris service module. All it would take is one ship to break through, and that would be it for Navarus.

Adkins initially had his doubts about the mutants—particularly Panur—but he’d come to accept their genius over the past four days. The pods they’d built made sense, although the officer had trouble understanding the concept. He knew inter-dimensional travel was possible; however, he was still having trouble grasping the reality of shifting normal space between the two, and on an atomic level. Even so, he gave them the benefit of the doubt. In the end, he had no choice.

* * *

Lila and Panur were seated at a semi-circular control station with eight monitors mounted on the bulkhead in front of them. The Ed Gibson was in space, sitting half-a-million-miles off Navarus and slightly above the ecliptic to get a better overall vantage point of the battlefield. The monitors displayed graphics, not actual scenes of the battle; that wasn’t practical based on the astronomical distances involved. Even so, there were two larger monitors at opposite ends of the console and angled to the back of the room. These would be tied into the bridges of various ships as the battle progressed and were there mainly for the edification of the spectators.

Adam had a place of prestige just off to the right of where the mutants sat, closest to Panur. Although the Ed Gibson wasn’t to take part in actual combat operations, the chairs in the room—including those where the spectators sat—were bolted to the deck and equipped with safety harnesses. Adam reasoned that if it came to the point where the harnesses would be needed, it would be because they were running away on full gravity drive. He sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that. The Ed Gibson wasn’t built for speed; in fact, at this point in its long tenure, it wasn’t built for much of anything.

“Kanan is on track,” Lila reported. Her voice—along with Panur’s—was being broadcast over a secure network to all the ships in the fleet. Once the field was activated, the mutants would be directing individual ships to various regions, while also repositioning the L-Pods along the path of the enemy column—if Kanan formed his fleet into a column. At the moment, they were approaching the system in three distinct formations made up of roughly one hundred fifty warships each.

“The first harassing contacts should be taking place now,” Lila continued. “The Lerpiniere pods will not be activated until all or most of Kanan’s fleet is within range. Once the effectiveness of the fields becomes known, the units will attempt to break out. That is why we take out as many of Kanan’s vessels in the first few minutes of the engagement as possible before they adjust to the strategy. Following that, Kanan could break the formation and send his ships off in a myriad of directions, yet each heading for Navarus.”

Adam tried to put himself in Kanan’s place. The service module had to be aware of the strategy the allies were employing. He had limited resources, and reducing those resources would be the Human’s primary goal. The defense of Navarus would be secondary. Yet if Kanan did destroy the planet, then he’d have full reign of the Dead Zone, at which point his primary goal would be to replenish his resources. Adam conceded that wouldn’t be too difficult, not if the allies left him alone. He could pick any of a dozen worlds within the Zone and conscript an army of colonists to work the factories building him more warships and service modules. And he wouldn’t care about the residual radiation on the planets since his modules were immune to its effects.

So, in a way, the key to everything did lie with the fate of Navarus. And like Dasnon, Kanan would attempt to inflict the most damage with the least number of losses to his fleet.

He also knew that upon the destruction of the planet, both sides would make hasty retreats to save their units for future engagements. Adam was sure Kanan realized how expendable Navarus was in the larger scheme of things. Although the allies would put up a good fight, the only way the Humans would accept catastrophic losses is if Kanan was himself suffering the same. Because of that, Kanan would avoid conflict wherever possible.

And now, as the enemy fleet breached the outer boundary of the Liave star system, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Kanan was steering for the corridor between Lauria and Masnin, having to slow down slightly as he transited the thin Embree asteroid field. Adkins had intentionally saturated the edges of the passage with hundreds of mines while leaving the center less dense. The graphics on the mutant’s screens showed a slight—and cautious—shift in the course of the enemy fleet, testing the flanks. When more of the ships began to wink out from mine strikes, the fleet returned to its original path. It also began to form into a single column.

Adam could see the location of the L-Pods on the monitors. They were in three main concentrations. Some were placed a little farther behind and forward of the main concentration, there to pick up either stragglers or advanced units. But the bulk of the pods were in a three-million-mile-long swath of space between the two planets. Each unit had an effective range of about two hundred thousand miles, forming a giant sphere of influence. Most formed overlaps, although, with the vast distances involved, that wasn’t always possible. There would be plenty of gaps where the enemy ships could operate. With more time to prepare, the mutants could have built thousands of pods. But all they had time for was forty.

The bridge of the Camelot was displayed in a small insert on a screen to Panur’s right. People were scrambling around even as the admiral’s stoic figure sat motionless in his command chair. At this point, he was at the mercy of the mutants, as was Admiral Wright. Inexorably, however, the enemy fleet was entering the killing field. Any moment now, the Pods would be activated, and then the real battle would begin.

Chapter 10

It was Panur who activated the central core of the Lerpiniere Pods.

At first, not much happened. The DEmons remained on course, slow and steady. But then the allied warships charged in.

Six squadrons of Stingers penetrated the column and began sending blinding bolts of plasma energy into the shields of the black, dark-energy warships. The DEmons returned fire, but not as quickly or efficiently as they had at Dasnon. Within the first couple of minutes, enemy casualties within the battle for Navarus had already matched those for the entire Dasnon campaign.

But then the enemy counterattacked. There was still a fair number of DEmons outside the interphase bubbles, and now they rushed to defend their comrades. The forward progress of the column slowed as modules—and Kanan in particular—assessed the change in fortune. Something was happening, and those inside the bubbles were unaware, while those outside were powerless to stop it.

Unlike at Dasnon, most of the DEmons flared away from the column and went after individual allied warships. But there were more Human ships than enemy vessels, and the DEmons found themselves fighting three or four Stingers at a time. More of the enemy ships were scratched off the electronic tally at a station in front of Lila.

This wasn’t to say the allies were coming out of these engagements unscathed. Just the opposite. There was still around a two-to-one kill ratio to Kanan’s advantage. Still, that was much better than eight-to-one or even worse.

As predicted, the enemy fleet began to break up, forming into deadly squads of twenty ships or so that sped off toward Masnin and Lauria, using the planets as shields. Another twenty, however, fell victim to the mines that permeated the area.

Panur and Lila were now a vision of frenetic, yet efficient activity. They barked out orders to specific units, using their superior intelligence and mental speed to analyze a hundred engagements at once. They also used a flurry of keystrokes to move the L-Pods around the chessboard, keeping as many of the enemy ships within the bubbles as possible.

Adam could barely keep up with the activity. Dozens of glowing green spheres filled the multiple screens displaying the battlefield. He noticed a marked change in the operation of the DEmons when one would reach the boundary of a field and then punched through. Lila’s theory of a static electricity discharge disrupting the modules’ function at these points was confirmed. And as DEmons slowed and steadied out their courses—if even for five seconds or so—Panur was directing fire at these semi-defenseless warships. The kill ratio at these junctions flipped around, two-to-one in favor of the Humans.

Suddenly, a chill went through Adam. Looking at a screen with the larger overview of the battle, he could see that the enemy column—as ragged as it was—was still moving for Navarus. The leading edge was now at Dyreehs, the next planet to Navarus.

There just weren’t enough allied warships to cover the entire area. By remaining relatively compact, Kanan allowed portions of his fleet to be peeled off like layers of an onion while leaving a relatively intact core of fully functional DEmons moving for the planet.

“Panur!” a voice sounded in the command room. It was that of Admiral Adkins. “Scouts have picked up another contact.”

“Another squadron?”

“No, a single ship. It’s entering from above and heading for Liave from the opposite side from Navarus.”

Lila checked her screens. “That is why it is not visible from here. It is using the star as a shield.”

“Just one?” Adam asked.

“That’s right. It just hit one of the gravity field dampers, but it’s still coming in pretty fast.”

“Transfer your data, admiral,” Panur commanded.

This is not good, Adam thought. He looked at the reserve units, those left as a last-ditch defense against such an occurrence, seeing if any were in position to block the ship’s approach. They were, but the mutants had no L-Pods on that side of the system. Even twenty against one may not be enough to stop the ship.

Everyone in the room was now on their feet, including the mutants. They watched the determined course of the invading warship. Eight smaller vessels moved in to block its path. From the signatures, Adam saw they were Enforcer Assault Vessels. Although they were well-armed, they didn’t compare to a DEmon. They were assigned flanking and reserve duty, to be used only as a last resort.

Now the last resort was here.

The forward progress of the DEmon slowed slightly as it engaged the EAVs. But not for long. The transponders on three of the eight defenders went silent. The enemy ship then blasted through the defenders, doing only enough to break through and continue toward the planet. The remaining five EAVs were no match for the DEmon’s speed and fell quickly behind in the mad dash for Navarus.

Adam’s heart was in his throat. He turned to Riyad and Sherri.

“C’mon; we’re going down to get Summer and her people.”

“Wait,” Panur said.

“No way. I can’t leave them down there.”

“You don’t have a choice. The dark-energy ship will beat you to the planet. There is nothing you can do.”

“Where’s the ship now?” Riyad asked the mutant.

“A million miles out and closing fast. You should wait to see where the bombs go off,” the mutant offered. “You don’t want to get caught in one of the event fields.”

“But you know they’ll attack Kanac first,” Sherri said, her voice dripping with concern. “It’s the largest city on the planet.”

“I don’t think size matters,” Panur said. “At least not in this case. Just place enough of those dark-matter bombs across the surface, and it will be enough to start the chain reaction. You cannot risk going down into that.”

“But if we wait, that kinda defeats the purpose of a rescue, now doesn’t it?” Adam said. “Summer could be right in the middle of one.”

“Then you definitely need to wait,” Panur said. “As I said, the DE ship is going to get there before you. What is about to happen on Navarus is out of our hands.”

“The DEmon is thirty seconds out,” Lila reported. “It could begin its drop run at any time.”

Panur was right; Adam wouldn’t have gotten close to the planet by the time the DM bombs went off. It was too late for Summer, Monty and Tidus—along with all the other unfortunate souls on Navarus.

“The DEmon has entered the atmosphere,” Lila stated matter of factly.

There was a pregnant pause on the Ed Gibson. At Dasnon, the explosions—if the dark-matter events could be called that—occurred almost immediately after the attack vessels reached their target. It should come anytime now. The fate of Navarus—Adam’s most recent homeworld—was sealed.

* * *

A minute is a long time to hold one’s breath, especially if you weren’t planning to hold it. Two minutes was virtually impossible.

“What’s going on?” Riyad asked.

“Nothing,” Panur said. “No events have been recorded.”

“Where’s the ship?”

“We lost it as it slipped around to the other side of the planet. I’m attempting to access planetary monitoring systems, although Navarus doesn’t have many. Besides, anyone who would be operating the systems has fled, either off the planet or into the jungles. Even the military has shut down. It may take a while to track the rare energy signature of the dark-energy drive.”

“And in the meantime,” Lila said. “We still have a battle to conduct.”

“It should not last much longer,” Panur said. “Kanan has succeeded in getting a ship to Navarus. There will be no reason for him to prolong the attack, especially in light of the casualties he’s taking.”

“Tell that to the DEmons breaking past Dyreehs.,” Adam said. “There doesn’t seem to be any slowing of the battle. And there have been no explosions on Navarus,” he pointed out, unnecessarily. “What’s going on?”

“Kanan used five ships at Dasnon to plant the bombs,” Sherri offered. “They may have to go off simultaneously to have the most effect, and it takes time to place them.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Adam said.

“We have a tentative track for the dark-energy warcraft,” Lila announced. “It dropped low into the atmosphere and then skirted along the ocean before reaching land right around Balamar. After that, contact was lost in ground clutter, but there is no indication the ship proceeded further east. The Lakes would have allowed us to pick up a signal.”

“Balamar?” Adam said. “Why?”

Panur turned his grey face to Adam. “Do you not know what this means?”

“No, what?”

“It’s Kanan. He’s piloting the Gracilian warship himself.”

“Kanan? Why … why do you say that?”

“Because of the treasure,” Riyad offered before Panur could answer.

“Very good, Mr. Tarazi,” said the mutant. “Kanan has come looking for the treasure trove of Aris artifacts—as the Gracilian scientists called it—that Jroshin took from Gracilia.”

“If that’s the case, there must be something in there that he wants—or needs,” Sherri said.

“That would provide the motivation,” Panur said. “And he will not destroy the world until he has recovered it.”

“Well, good luck with that,” Riyad grumbled. “I’ve been looking for that stash for almost a year, as has Summer and her team. Still nothing.”

“Don’t you think Kanan might be better able to find said treasure than you and Ms. Rains?” Panur asked.

Riyad shrugged. “I suppose.”

“And consider this,” Panur continued. “He’s in the process of sacrificing his very limited fleet to buy time to locate this mysterious treasure. There must be something of extreme importance within the cache.”

“Like what?” Adam asked, before realizing his question was rhetorical.

“I have no idea,” Panur answered. “But whatever it is, it is more valuable than his fleet.”

“And you know what?” Sherri said anxiously. “It’s also probably the reason he came here before when he almost killed Adam and Coop.”

Panur nodded. “He tried subterfuge, but failed,” the mutant said. “And now, he is using the distraction of the invasion to accomplish his goal.”

“He hasn’t accomplished it yet,” Adam said defiantly. “He still has to find it first. There could still be time to stop him.”

Riyad jerked his head around to stare at Adam. “Eh, you’ve tried that before; a lot of people have. After all, this is Kanan we’re talking about.”

“We have to try. And we have time to save Summer and the others, too. I say we go for it.”

Riyad turned Panur. “Hey, eh, you don’t think you could break away from here and join us on the surface, now do you?”

“Is that an awkward way of asking for my help?”

“Always.”

Panur looked over at Lila.

“Go,” she said. “I can coordinate the battle. It is apparent now that Kanan has lost interest in preserving his units. The fighting will continue, and with the Lerpiniere Pods, we should have complete victory, if Kanan does not withdraw his forces. Go, save Summer, and stop Kanan. I fear for what he is after. For us, it would be more dangerous than his fleet. That concerns me.”

“It concerns me, as well. Okay, Mr. Tarazi, let’s make a hop down to Navarus. I’m anxious for a rematch with our Aris opponent.”

“I want to come, too,” Copernicus stated.

Panur turned to him. “Please, Mr. Smith, remain aboard the Ed Gibson. Your expertise is better served here. Take my seat. Combat experience, plus a master mechanic. Who better to assist Lila? You must serve where you are best suited.”

“But I—”

“No, Copernicus, you can’t go,” Panur said a little more forcefully. “Stay.”

* * *

Adam, Riyad, Sherri and Panur were out the doorway a moment later and running for the EG’s launch bay.

They had a shuttle aboard the ship, brought in for this very circumstance. It was a newer military class T-18, which Adam affectionally called the Ed Gibson, Jr. Riyad was at the controls five seconds after entering the spacecraft while Sherri, Panur and Adam strapped in behind him. Localized gravity was cut just as the atmosphere was dumped from the bay. Small reactive gas jets got the shuttle moving toward the slowly opening launch bay doors.

Adam inhaled sharply as the Ed Gibson, Jr. shot for the narrow opening. He let out a deep breath when the ship cleared the doorway with only inches to spare, a testament to Riyad’s superior piloting skills.

Navarus grew in the forward viewport, but not as fast as Adam would have liked. The shuttle may be new and shiny, but it wasn’t very fast. Biting his bottom lip, he was furious with the slow pace of the Ed Gibson, Jr. He should have put a speeder in the launch bay instead of this sloth. But because of Dasnon, Adam was expecting a breakaway squadron from the main fleet to trigger his rescue of Summer and her team, not a solitary renegade warship zipping in past Liave.

He checked his instruments. They were still forty minutes from the planet, making it an hour or so before they would reach the mountains. Even knowing Kanan was on the surface, Panur’s words haunted him. What if they came in for a landing right at the time one of the bombs went off in the vicinity? And the vicinity for one of these things was something like a two hundred fifty-mile radius.

He shrugged. He’d worry about that when they reached Navarus. If Navarus was still there.

Chapter 11

On the way to the planet, Adam repeatedly attempted to open a link to Summer Rains on the surface of Navarus but received no answer. That wasn’t right. He’d talked to her only six hours before, and she was expecting his call to coordinate a rescue if need be. She should have been waiting with communicator in hand for his call. Something wasn’t right.

He had the coordinates to the team’s main base. It was high in the mountains, which at certain times of the year were capped with snow. There would still be a little at that elevation. Summer, Monty and Tidus had searched only about thirty percent of the two hundred mines that perforated the granite rock of the Zocor Range. They’d started with the ones closest to the area’s only access road. Snow and other weather conditions obliterated any evidence showing which mines were recently visited, leaving them no tell-tale signs of which excavations to explore. Another factor that made their task difficult was the fact that each mine snaked back into the mountain for several miles and with dozens of offshoots from the main tunnels. They did find footprints in most of them, tracks left in the light dust. But it was almost impossible to tell their age. So, the going was slow. But at the end of this literal tunnel could be a fortune of two billion Juirean credits waiting for them. To the trio of treasure hunters, that was worth whatever time and effort it took.

And that was why they refused to leave. They knew Panur and Lila and trusted that they could come up with something that would prevent the destruction of Navarus. Besides, the possibility that the planet faced destruction only come about after Dasnon. Perhaps it was a fluke, an unintended consequence of several dark matter bombs going off at specific locations around the globe. The same thing may not happen on Navarus, even if the bombs did go off. The only thing that gave the trio pause was the fact that their mountain retreat sat within the two-hundred-fifty-mile radius of a dark-matter event. And Kanac would be among the primary targets should Kanan’s forces make it to the planet.

Although the team desperately wanted to stay, they reluctantly agree to be prepared to evacuate if the time came.

And now they had gone radio silent. Adam could only think of one thing that would have caused that.

* * *

Summer, Monty and Tidus had built a camp fifty feet back in one of the larger mines. They’d been there for about a month, the latest in a long string of such encampments, this one among a cluster of eight shafts cut into this part of Mt. Zocor. The good thing about camping out in old mine shafts is they were well-protected against the elements and secure—if one didn’t venture too far into the mine. But they did play havoc with radio communications.

With a battle raging in space for the very survival of Navarus, Summer was making frequent trips to the mine’s entrance to check on link reception. They weren’t too far into the shaft to cut off all communications, but she couldn’t be sure. And this was one call she didn’t want to miss.

The air was cold and brisk at eight thousand feet elevation, sweeping down the steep slopes and chilled by the remains of the Winter snowfall. It was a little past mid-day, and another reason she came out was to look for intruders. For the past week or so, the mountains had been inundated by refugees from Kanac and Balamar, believing the mines would protect them against any attack Kanan may foist upon their communities; however, not as many people had shown up since the destruction of Dasnon became news. For those who couldn’t get off the planet, there wasn’t much point of heading for the hills for safety, not if the entire world would be destroyed.

Summer squinted against the bright sunlight, looking over the wide plateau outside the entrance. At one time, this mine was one of the major operations on the mountain, and a graveyard of rusted equipment lay strewn about. Beyond was a forest road that hugged a steep decline, covered in Navarean pine, or an alien variety of the conifer. They looked and smelled like pine, so to Summer, they were pine. Looking out on the all-too-familiar scene allowed her to forget the fact that she was on an alien world five thousand light-years from her home. And not having the towering, blue-haired Juirean Tidus around to remind her of where she was, that was helpful, as well.

A movement down the road caught her attention, something out of sync with the swaying of the trees in the mountain breeze. Summer sighed and shook her head. Another group of refugees from the city. Over the months, Summer had come to see the Zocor Range as her mountains. She lived most of her life here now, and usually, no one intruded on her sanctuary.

Frustrated, she went to investigate the intruders along the narrow dirt roadway, determined to use her Human abilities to let whoever was there know that they weren’t welcome.

She walked down the ever-increasing slope until she reached the road. The path was shrouded in shade, and although she dressed for the season, she still shivered from the sudden drop in temperature. The dark figure was hiking up the road, cast in shadow. Suddenly, Summer’s eyes grew wide, and then she pursed her lips.

“Dammit, Adam, you scared the hell out of me!” She held up her communicator. “Why didn’t you call?”

Adam Cain frowned at the communication device while continuing up the slope.

“What’s happening with the battle?” Summer asked. “Is that why you’re here? Do we have to leave?”

“The battle, it’s proceeding. It has not concluded.”

“Okay, then,” Summer said with resignation. She turned and began hiking back up the road. “C’mon, let’s go tell the others what’s going on. We have our stuff ready to go.”

“The others?”

“Yeah, of course. What the hell’s wrong with you? Are you alone?”

“Yes, I am alone.”

“I didn’t hear the shuttle when you came in, but I may have been back in the mine. Hurry. It’s cold out here.”

Summer led Adam into the dark interior of the mine. The adit was wide, allowing for multiple rail lines and conveyor belts that once operated here. Like most of mining operations on alien worlds, their purpose was the search for base metals, such as copper, zinc and nickel, along with various minerals used in manufacturing and chemical processes. Seldom did alien mines dig for precious gems, gold or silver, although these, too, were important in manufacturing. The fickleness of what one race considered to be precious compared to another made value a relative term. Besides, when asteroids contained vast quantities of this material, be it gold, silver or even diamond, the value was depressed. The mines of Navarus had been used primarily to supply the needs of the early settlers before the planet became wealthy enough to buy them off-world. Most of the mines in the Zocor Range had been shut down for the past fifty years, making them excellent locations to store stolen items, as Aric Jroshin had discovered.

A large staging area had been carved out of the rock and formed an underground base just inside the mine, both for the former operators of the mine, as well as for Summer and her team. It was far enough from the exit to keep out most of the cold but not too far into the interior to risk cave-ins.

“Hey, look who I ran into,” Summer announced, her voice echoing off rough stone walls. Her tone betrayed the disappointment she felt. Adam would only be here if Navarus was in jeopardy, meaning their year-long-quest for Jroshin’s hidden treasure was coming to an end.

Numerous electric lamps were positioned along the perimeter, lighting the camp. Cots sat off to one side, with chairs, tables and a small cold-fusion generator placed haphazardly across the dusty floor. A glowing red heating coil was placed at the center of the room, radiating warmth that was held in by the granite walls of the chamber. After nearly a year of searching the mountain for Jroshin’s hidden fortune, the team no longer cared about aesthetics. Things tended to remain where they were first placed until it came time to move them again.

Monty was on his cot with a tree-trunk-thick, tattooed arm draped across his forehead. Even in the cold of the mountains, Monty seldom wore shirts with sleeves. The Juirean, Tidus, was at a table, feasting on some brown mush from the portable food processor. They looked over at Adam as he came into the light.

Adam was wearing an Enforcer uniform and nothing else; no jacket or even a utility belt with his trusty hand cannon—the ancient .45 caliber Colt single-action Army revolver he carried with him most of the time. It was more for show than function. He said it helped him feel the part of the frontier Marshal when he wore it.

“Dammit!” Monty said. “If you’re here, then that means Navarus is about to become toast. And there goes our fortune.”

“Is that right?” Tidus asked. “Did Kanan’s forces get through already, or are they on their way?”

Adam surveyed the cavern, taking in the three occupants before responding. “Have you explored this mine?” he asked.

The question took the trio by surprise.

“Most of it,” Summer replied, frowning. “We’re mainly using it for a base while we check out the other seven along the ridge. But what does that have to do with anything?”

Adam turned to the entrance, having produced a small electronic device he carried in his hand. Summer hadn’t seen it before.

“Yes, the signal is close to the east. You will come with me now. I will need your assistance.”

Monty and Tidus were on their feet a moment later. They didn’t know what was happening, but the one thing they were sure of this was not Adam Cain. Summer was the first to react, being the closest to the intruder. She dove away for her compound bow. It was leaning against the rock wall about ten feet away. She rolled in the dust, covering herself thoroughly while scooping up the weapon along with an arrow next to it. In one fluid motion, she rolled onto her back, notched the bolt and drew back the d-loop. The arrow shot out, striking the Adam Cain imposter in the left shoulder.

Whoever was pretending to be Adam reacted to the hit, but not in the manner Summer was expecting. He looked at the thin composite rod sticking from his body with almost amused detachment before gripping it with his right hand and pulling it from his flesh. The arrow was blunt-tipped and not one of her bladed hunting bolts. Even if it was, she doubted it would have made much of a difference.

Now Monty and Tidus reacted, going for their MKs. By now, it was obvious this was Kanan, having constructed a new robot body, but this one in the form of their old team leader, Adam Cain.

The robot turned to the motion, squinting his eyes in their direction. Following their sight, Kanan focused on the energy weapons on a table near the food processor. The bolt launchers weren’t something the team wore all the time. At the moment, that was a decision they regretted.

A brilliant flash filled the chamber, not from the MK weapons, but rather emanating from Kanan’s eyes. The blast of light struck the guns, scorching the leather holsters and frying the internal electronics of the pistols.

“Stop your resisting,” Kanan/Adam ordered. “I will not harm you.”

“You won’t?” Summer said. She had her back against the cold stone wall, her body caked in the dark grey dust from the floor of the cavern. “Why not?”

“Because I need you. You will recover the artifacts and deliver them to my ship.” He turned to Summer. “You mentioned Adam Cain.” An awkward smile stretched across the robot’s face. “I am pleased that my current iteration fooled you; however, it was not intended to deceive. Having encountered Human form before, I was curious as to whether or not it is superior to the Aris body of the older designs. Physically, it does appear to be better suited for combat.” Kanan focused his eyes on Tidus, which made the alien step away before bumping into another table. “However, you are much larger, making your form more intimidating. You are a Juirean. I have not seen one in person, having only killed your kind on the battlefield of space. Perhaps my next form will be that of a Juirean.”

“What do you want from us?” Monty asked, tiring of the lovefest between the Aris service module and the Juirean.

Kanan held up the device in his hand. “I can track the presence of concentrated dark matter but not with any certainty because of the interference of the surrounding stone. However, I do know it is near. Not here, but close.”

“So, we are close!” Monty said. “You said to the east. Is that where you’re picking up the signal?”

“That is correct.”

Summer frowned at her father. “You’re not supposed to help him,” she growled.

“The sooner he gets what he came for, the sooner he’ll leave.”

“And destroy the planet, you idiot.”

Monty looked again at the figure of Adam Cain. “Is that true? Are you still going to destroy the planet?”

“Perhaps, however, my priority is to recover the artifacts Jroshin stored here. The outcome of the continuing battle in space will determine what happens after that. Now, guide me to the location to the east. You have experience; you will take me there.”

“What about the money?” Monty asked.

“Money?” Kanan frowned. “You mean credits?” Kanan laughed. “The money—as you call it—has no meaning to me. It is just more to carry. I am not interested in that.”

Monty scanned the faces of Tidus and Summer. Tidus seemed enthused, while Summer was a study in anger and frustration.

“There’s something seriously wrong with you, dad,” she said. She climbed to her feet and began dusting herself off.

“Just being practical, sweetie. You know, the whole silver-lining thing.”

“Whatever.”

A moment later, the team was herded out of the mine by the robotic Kanan/Adam Cain and out into the cold of Mt. Zocor.

Chapter 12

The next mine adit was about ninety yards farther along the ridge. It wasn’t in nearly the condition as the entrance at the base camp with decaying timbers lining the opening and scrunched in toward the middle from the pressure of the slowly moving hillside. Kanan stepped inside for a moment, waving his meter around the interior.

“This is not it,” he announced as he reentered the sunlight. He was only gone a few seconds, but it was enough time for the trio to begin making silent gestures at each other to run off into the woods. They snapped to attention when the robot reappeared. He ignored them and moved off to the next mine.

This one was down the slope quite a bit, and they had to pass through the forest to get to the plateau outside the entrance. Early miners had cut away the trees in front of the mountainside. Weeks before, Summer’s team had treated the last mine as Kanan had, by quickly dismissing it. Two billion Juirean credits would fill the back of a couple of trucks and then have to be carted into a hiding place deep in one of the mines. The last mine was too small for that. But this one had promise.

The road snaked along the ridge just below this point with a wide turnout leading to the plateau. It was large enough for trucks to traverse—perhaps trucks carrying two billion Juirean credits.

Over the past month, the team had only explored the first hundred yards or so of the main drift tunnel running into the mountain. There were a couple of splinter corridors to each side, but they didn’t look wide enough to move that many credits. Then the main tunnel began to slope down, following a rich vein of whatever they mined here. A steady stream of water flowed down, making them suspect that the lower part of the mine was flooded. The treasure hunters hadn’t gone much farther beyond that point, reasoning that anyone stashing a fortune of credits and other items in the mine would probably follow the path of least resistance. That had been their thinking when evaluating every potential hiding place they came across. Either their reasoning was faulty, or they hadn’t yet come to the right mine.

But now Kanan had a way to narrow the search. Summer grimaced. Wouldn’t you know it, she thought. So close, yet so far.

“The signal is stronger here,” Kanan announced at the entrance to the mine. “You go first; I will guide you with the meter.”

The you he meant were the two Humans and one Juirean. They obliged, flicking on their electric torches. They each had respirators to filter out the stale air and other lingering gases inside the mine. Kanan hadn’t asked for one, and they didn’t offer.

The explorers moved along cautiously. The mines were in a constant state of flux from floods and cave-ins, so one could never be sure that it was safe to proceed, even if you’d been in the mine the day before. They came to the first side shaft on the right. Kanan stepped forward and scanned the opening with his meter.

“Indeterminant,” he reported. “We will continue along the main tunnel.”

The next side shaft was on the left. It was wider than the first one, but not by much. The ground here was muddy with a thin crust of ice on the surface. Kanan checked the meter.

“Again, variable readings. I suspect that the artifacts are here, in this mine. We will continue farther along.”

“The tunnel slopes down a little after this,” said Tidus. “It could be flooded. If that is where the artifacts were first stored, they may be impossible to reach at this time of year.”

“That would be unfortunate,” Kanan said. “In that case, I would not need your physical assistance in removing the items. Proceed.”

As they moved farther along the main corridor, Summer began to speculate on their fate, even if they found the artifacts and helped Kanan move them to his ship. The same thoughts had been rumbling around in her head for the last forty-five minutes. Either Kanan would kill them if the artifacts weren’t found, or he would kill them once the find was loaded on his ship. Or he’d let them live, only to die when the dark-matter bombs went off, destroying Navarus. Or Summer would die of a stroke from worrying about the myriad of ways she could die. Any way she looked at it, she would end up dead.

Occasionally, Summer would meet eyes with her father. They didn’t need ATDs to read each other’s thoughts; he was thinking the same thing. The only way to have a fighting chance at survival was to fight back. But how, and with what?

The with what was easy to answer. All along the tunnel lay discarded mining tools, including jacks, wrenches and even shoring hammers. In the hands of a bull like Monty, a sledgehammer could be quite an effective weapon, even against a three-billion-year-old Aris service module, especially one operating within a robot version of Adam Cain. However, Kanan could teleport. And deliver deadly electric shocks. Even so, Summer began to see her father delivering a massive blow to the top of Kanan’s head with a sledgehammer, like one of those old carnival games she’d seen on TV but never in person, with the bell at the top. Crush the damn module along with Adam’s skull, that was the plan.

Summer snapped back to reality as she tripped on something in the murky light and dropped to her knees in the cold mud. Monty helped her up.

“Continue,” Kanan prodded from behind.

Summer followed Monty’s eyes as they shifted to his left. In a giant fist, he held a rusted wrench about eighteen inches long. He cradled it against his leg, keeping his body turned away from Kanan. Summer grimaced and shook her head slightly. It was one thing to imagine taking on Kanan with a rusty hunk of metal; it was quite another to actually do it. She feared for her father.

“Stop!” Kanan said suddenly.

Monty and Summer froze. Had he seen the wrench?

“The signal is fading slightly. We appear to have passed the source. It is in one of the side tunnels. Turn around. We are going back.”

Kanan turned away from the others, and that’s when Summer yanked the wrench from Monty’s hand and let it fall to the ground. “Not now,” she whispered. “Maybe on his ship.”

Monty glowered at the tiny blonde. She could tell he was sick of appearing impotent in front of his daughter. He was a man of action, often bull-headed action. She put a reassuring—yet muddy hand—on Monty’s thick forearm, calming him.

“Hurry,” Kanan said. “We are close.”

The robot stepped to the side and let the trio resume the lead. Summer watched Kanan/Adam’s blue eyes follow Monty with unflinching concentration. The tension was thick among all in the tunnel; Kanan had to suspect his prisoners wouldn’t simply surrender to their fate without trying something. If he did, then he didn’t know Humans very well.

* * *

At Kanan’s insistence, they entered what had been the second side shaft in the mine. They moved into the cold interior, sloshing through sometimes deep puddles of icy water. Even Monty was shivering from his bare arms, although he remained lock-jawed and determined not to show it. The tunnel branched off, forming a ‘Y’ at one point. They continued to the left before Kanan called them back. They only went a few yards into the other tine when the service module declared that this was the wrong tunnel. It had to be the first side-channel they’d come to, the one they thought was too narrow for the amount of material stored inside.

A couple of minutes later, they were in the smaller tunnel, the first one they’d come to when entering the mine. It, too, branched off at one point. Kanan was watching his meter more often now, the signal getting stronger. Summer found it strange that the artificial emotions of the service module were being translated accurately in the expressions of the Adam Cain robot. He was getting excited. The end of his quest was near, and he knew it.

Summer tried to share the same emotions. After nearly a year, she was about to come upon a secret stash of two billion credits. That amount of money was much more on Earth than out in the galaxy. They tried to calculate how much it would be once—okay, more than once—coming up with something close to fourteen billion dollars. And now it was all for naught. They’d get to see it, maybe even feel it. But there was no way Kanan would let them live long enough to have it.

The sidewall of the tunnel suddenly opened up as it broke into a natural cavern with the requisite stalactites and stalagmites. Smooth, moisture-laden surfaces reflected their lamps and even a small stream coursed through the base of the enormous chamber, before disappearing into a distant dark hole in the sidewall.

And there, on a high ledge protected against rising water, was piled crate upon crate of what the trio of fortune hunters could only imagine was the missing Juirean credits. Monty let out a long breath, not from the thrill of the moment, but the letdown.

The robot scampered toward the wide overhang, following a natural path in the rock formations. If only they’d ventured a little farther in, Summer thought. They’d been here two weeks before. That would have been plenty of time to recover the money and to get off the planet. After that, they wouldn’t give a damn what happened to the Dead Worlds. Let the crazy service module have them, for all they would care.

Atop the ledge, Kanan slipped past the blue storage crates and to another grouping of containers and other items covered by tarps. He pulled a canvass cover away and began foraging through the boxes underneath.

At one point, he stopped and lifted a rectangularly-shaped metal box about three feet long by two feet high. None of them knew what it was, but Kanan seemed particularly excited to find it. He kept rummaging through more of the items before moving to smaller crates, those not containing the money.

Kanan paused at one. With zeal, he reached in and pulled out a small metal case about the size of the business briefcase. In a fit of emotion, he looked down on the three gawking spectators.

“I found it,” he gasped. “There was a possibility it would be here; otherwise, Jroshin would have taken it with him to Aac’or.”

“What is it?” Monty asked.

“The key,” Kanan answered. “Although you cannot comprehend to what.”

“Why don’t you tell us anyway?” Summer prodded. She was curious. It had to be something special to get Kanan this excited.

“I think not. Instead, I require a transport vessel. One of the old ore carriers will do nicely.”

“There are no rail lines running in here,” Tidus pointed out.

“Bring it to the side tunnel entrance. You will then transfer all of these items into the carrier. Hurry. My passage to Navarus was tracked. I suspect you will not like what would happen should my efforts here be interrupted. Go now, and the female will stay with me.”

Summer took Monty’s hand. “I’ll be okay. Hurry back.”

“You, the little one. Come up here. Begin moving the smaller items to the outer tunnel.”

Monty gnashed his teeth in anger before racing off with Tidus to recover one of the old shuttle cars. Summer prayed that at least one of them had wheels that weren’t rusted solid. She’d hate to haul all this crap out by hand.

* * *

It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard, echoing off the rock walls at such a high pitch that it almost made their ears bleed. But at least the old shuttle car could move. Monty and Tidus brought it in from outside after first hoisting it onto a set of rust-red rails that led back into the mine. The men pushed from behind using all their strength. At first, the wheels didn’t want to turn, and they ended up scraping the car along the metal rails. But after a while, the wheels began to rotate, not all the way around, but at least some. By the time they came to the side tunnel, all four wheels were turning, though with the constant screams of protest.

Summer and Kanan heard the car even before it entered the mine. Now Summer stood with her hands pressed against her ears as her face displayed a look of sheer agony.

“Holy crap,” she cried out. “No need to torture me before Kanan kills us.”

“I tried splashing water on the wheels; it helped … some,” said Tidus.

“It’ll get better,” Monty said. “Hurry up. Let’s get this thing loaded. I’m anxious to get to Kanan’s ship.”

Summer and Tidus now shared a look. He and Monty had a plan brewing, but something they couldn’t implement until they got to the dark-energy starship. Summer didn’t resist this time. By the time they reached the ship, their fate would be sealed. It would be then or never.

Summer already had a small stack of miscellaneous items sitting on the muddy floor. She loaded them in the rusty bucket while Monty and Tidus moved back into the cavern. She followed a few seconds later.

Kanan had organized the load into four containers, using a couple of blue crates that had once carried Juirean credits to hold his precious artifacts. As the trio climbed the rock stairway to the ledge, they got their first glimpse of Jroshin’s fortune. Blue, green and red plastic Juirean credits lay strewn across the rock. Summer had no idea how much it was, but the two crates had only scratched the surface of the dozens of crates that remained unopened. Monty bent down and picked up a red chip, the highest denomination in Juirean currency.

“Leave that, it is of no importance,” Kanan ordered.

Monty smirked at the robot … and then placed the chip in his pocket. At the moment, Kanan needed Monty’s muscles more than he needed to enforce his authority.

What followed were several long and exhausting minutes of shuttling Kanan’s four crates worth of items down the stairway, across the cavern and out to the drift tunnel. The ore car was full by then, which would make it even harder to push out through the entrance. Kanan followed, leaving the briefcase for him to carry. Summer wished she knew what was in it if only to take that knowledge to her grave.

And then began the arduous task of moving the fully loaded shuttle cart out of the mine.

Normally, Humans are pretty strong, especially on a planet such as Navarus that had Juirean standard gravity of three-quarters that of Earth. However, the two Humans had spent the better part of a year living in Navarean gravity, and their muscles had acclimated themselves to local conditions. And since the planet had Juirean standard gravity, Tidus had no special advantage, either. Now all three got behind the heavy steel bucket and began to push. It moved but at about a rate of ten feet a minute. Mercifully, the rusted bearings in the axels began to lose much of their oxidation and moved more freely. The cart rolled a little easier now, but not much. Yet still, the god-awful screeching continued.

Summer, Monty and Tidus were drenched in sweat as they reached the exit to the mine. The rail line continued, curving off to run parallel to the ridge toward the remains of a dilapidated building that had once held a processing unit of some kind. But once back in the sunlight, the three leaned against the heavy cart and stood panting for several seconds.

* * *

Instinctively, Kanan knew he had to let his laborers rest. They would have to carry the contents of the bucket through the forest, down the road and to the clearing where his starship sat. That would take several trips. This first leg of the journey was the easy part.

Kanan stood near the adit, impatiently counting off the seconds until he could prod the team back to work. Already he’d been on the planet longer than he’d anticipated. His passage to the planet had been noticed—even protested—and now they knew he made it to the surface. Anticipating their reaction, the Humans would have naturally assumed dark-matter singularities would soon be formed, requiring those forces in space to abandon the planet and flee from its vicinity. However, when no such events occurred, some would risk tracking him. He would be hard to find, but his destination would be predictable, especially by the strange pair of mutants he knew were in service of the Humans. Because of that, he had to get as many of the items he’d recovered to his ship as soon as possible, even if he couldn’t take them all.

With his artificial hand, Kanan gripped the handle of the Key Case a little tighter. If he could take only one item, this would be it. He would not let it out of his possession.

Chapter 13

The flash bolt struck the robot on the side of the head, just where Arieel had hit the Aris-style bot on Arret that caused Kanan to teleport. Adam thought it strange, lining up a shot on a figure that was, well, him. But he had no choice. He also had no choice but to use a Xan-fi flash rifle; that was the only model they had aboard the shuttle. Arieel had hit Kanan with a bolt from a BAR, one of the superweapons built on Hax’on. That bolt was about twice as strong as the level-one bolt Adam just fired … at himself. Still, he was hoping for the same result—an overloading of the circuits in Kanan’s robot head and an automatic teleport to places unknown.

And that would open another can of worms. The service module was deadly in his own right and could pop in and out at a moment’s notice. That was why he was leaving that part of the operation to Panur.

Before leaving the Ed Gibson, the mutant loaded a small amount of equipment into the shuttle and had spent the time transiting to Navarus working on a miniature Lerpiniere field. In typical Panur fashion, he had something constructed by the time the team landed. The problem, as Panur outlined it, was that the field was uni-directional, meaning it was more like a ray than a field. Panur could hold the module in place, if he could keep the beam focused on the orb. But that just meant Kanan couldn’t teleport. He could still streak along on his anti-gravity legs.

Adam didn’t plan to fire on Kanan, at least not at the time he did. But the robot’s enhanced eyesight and heat-detecting sensors had picked up Riyad hiding in the forest directly ahead of the entrance to the mine. Adam saw the flash of recognition and the tensing of the robot’s artificial muscles. He had to do something even before Panur could focus his beam on his doppelganger.

“Monty!” Riyad yelled, “get your people over here!”

Momentarily stunned by the unexpected ambush, the treasure hunters now regained their senses, which had been additionally dulled by their fatigue. Adrenalin took over, and they raced away from the shuttle car, heading for the tree line where Riyad was waving with one hand while holding a flash rifle in the other.

Summer was the closest to where Kanan had been standing, and now she noticed that the robot dropped the metal briefcase when he was struck with the flash bolt. In a split-second decision, she turned and ran back to get the case.

“Summer, what the hell?” Adam yelled as she slid in the hard-packed dirt and scooped up the case by the handle.

She was sprinting for the trees five seconds later.

Sherri moved up beside Adam. They were positioned behind a set of old ore carriers, those that were frozen solid by the rust. Panur was on the opposite side of the adit, also hidden behind an old piece of mining equipment, his pistol-like interphase beam firmly in his grip. He grimaced at Adam because of his premature shot.

Sorry, Adam said through his ATD.

That’s okay, Panur answered in Adam’s mind. I didn’t have a good shot anyway. Do you have him?

I do, Adam replied through the mental connection. I’m picking up the servos in the robot. He’s just inside the entrance, on my side.

Normally, Panur couldn’t pick up telepathic communications. Still, Adam’s upgraded ATD had beefed up the linking capability and was now able to sync with advanced brain waves—if the brain was advanced enough. Panur’s was.

Twenty minutes earlier, Riyad landed the shuttle up the hill from the coordinates Adam had for the base camp, and when they didn’t find the team there, they’d followed the footprints further down the mountain. That’s when they heard the screaming of the rusted wheels. It echoed for miles around, leading them to the mine … and Kanan.

It wasn’t hard to gauge when Summer and her people would emerge from the tunnel, along with the Aris service module. The sound said it all. But when Kanan appeared behind them, it took Adam a moment to get over the shock of seeing himself herding the others forward, dressed in an impeccable Enforcer uniform and clutching a silver metal briefcase.

What now? Adam asked Panur mentally.

Get your people clear. Even if Kanan makes a break for his ship, he’ll have to leave all his goodies behind. What is that case Summer has?

I don’t know, but Kanan was holding it. It wasn’t in the ore car. Could that be the thing he came here to get?

That’s a good bet. But now we have it. That’s gotta piss him off.

“Adam!”

The voice was high-pitched and shrill. Adam recognized it as coming from Summer Rains.

He looked to the trees. Summer was standing frozen in fear, with the four-and-a-half-inch diameter greenish-colored orb having teleported and now hovering a few feet from her face. She had the case held out in front of her, using it as a shield. To her right, Riyad was moving into position, trying to get around Summer to get a shot on Kanan. The orb kept shifting position, keeping Summer between him and Riyad. Monty and Tidus stood off to the left, unarmed and at the mercy of the service module. Kanan ignored them.

“Back off, Riyad!” Adam yelled. “He won’t shoot Summer.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“He wants the case.”

Is this the real Adam Cain? asked a voice in Adam’s head. If so, then it is an indicator of your flawed reasoning that you would come to Navarus to save your friends.

At least I have friends.

But for how long? Tell the female to drop the case, and I will allow you and your friends to leave.

Sure, like I’m going to believe that. What’s so important about the case, anyway?

Adam sprinted toward the trees, soon to be joined by Sherri with a Xan-fi cradled in her arms. Riyad crouched behind a tree with the barrel of his rifle aimed at the hovering orb twenty feet away. He was a good shot, but there was no guarantee he could hit something that small and bouncing around in mid-air.

What is in the case is of no importance. Now stop this resistance. I could easily teleport behind the female and strike her with a killing bolt of energy.

And then what? You can’t carry the case yourself.

Let me worry about that. I will find a way—

Adam felt the break in the mental connection with the orb the moment Panur’s beam locked on. For a moment, Adam could feel what Kanan felt; it was almost like suffocating. Unfortunately for Panur, the module could still move, and it was soon discovered that the interphase beam needed direct line-of-sight to be effective. He lost the effect when Kanan darted around a tree.

After that, it was as if the entire forest exploded around them. Kanan began teleporting at a frantic pace, popping into existence just long enough to lash out with fiery bolts. The star-hot balls of energy struck the trees, causing interior moisture and pitch to instantly vaporize and expand. The trees exploded, as did patches of semi-frozen ground where more bolts landed.

The team frantically ran for cover but to where? Everything around them was exploding and catching fire. Summer screamed and fell backward, dropping the case. Riyad and Monty were at her side a moment later, each grabbing a thin arm and dragging her away. Sherri dove into the bucket of an old ore carrier and covered her head with her arms.

The new flash bolts suddenly died off, leaving only the crackling of the burning trees and the popping of the pitch. In the lull, Adam ran forward and snatched up the case. He turned and ran for the entrance to the mine.

That’s when another Adam Cain came face to face with him.

The two figures, looking almost as mirror images, stared at each other for a moment. Then the Adam Cain with the briefcase smiled. A second later, white-hot bolts of energy shot out from his eyes, striking the other Adam Cain squarely in the chest and throwing him backward. The Cain with the case ran into the mine.

Panur and Tidus were at Adam’s side a moment later.

“Are you okay?” Tidus asked. Panur already knew he was.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He took the case into the mine.”

“Let him have it,” Monty said as he, Summer and Riyad came up to them. “Maybe now he’ll leave the planet—” He noticed Summer open her mouth to speak. “And maybe not blow it up. I get it, Summer. But if he doesn’t destroy it, then we’re filthy rich.”

Sherri was the last one to join the group, having been reluctant to leave her iron shelter until she was sure it was safe.

Adam stood up, batting at the embers in his once pristine Enforcer uniform.

“We can’t let him get away with it. He’s letting his fleet get destroyed just so he can get that damn case. It has to be more dangerous than anything he’s had before.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Monty countered with his best former master chief logic.

“Adam is right,” Panur said. “He’s trapped inside, and Adam has a way of tracking him.”

“You do?” Tidus asked.

“The electronic servos in his joints and other functions. I can read them with my ATD. He’s heading deeper into the mine.”

“Come,” Panur said. “I have a device that can keep him from teleporting.”

“Yeah, we saw it in action,” Summer said. She still hadn’t recovered fully from her near-death experience with the service module. Adam got the impression she was more frightened of the orb than the robot. That made sense, the robot looked like him.

Adam—the real Adam—took his MK-47 and handed it to Tidus. Riyad did the same with Monty.

“And I don’t get a weapon?” said Summer.

“Here.” It was Sherri’s turn to give up her handgun. Now all she, Riyad and Adam were armed with were their Xan-fi rifles.

“Okay, then,” Summer said. “Let’s go bag ourselves an Aris service module.”

The team turned toward the adit.

“Wait a minute!” Adam called out. They turned to him. He pointed at the hole in the chest of his uniform.

“Remember, the one with the hole is the real one. Don’t go popping off shots just because I look like a robot.”

* * *

Monty, Summer and Tidus still had their lamps secured to utility belts by cords and having survived the jostling that took place outside. They flicked them on the moment they entered the mine.

“He’s down there,” Adam said, pointing. “Moving off to the left now.”

“The left?” Tidus questioned. “He must be in the side tunnel. This is good. It’s a dead end.”

Panur led the way. He could see perfectly in the flickering light of the lamps, and his body could act as a shield should Kanan suddenly appear and light off a bolt at the team. But Adam could see the robot moving, meaning Kanan was still aboard his so-called transport. Adam didn’t know whether to be insulted or flattered that Kanan built a robotic version of him. Why not another Aris? Hopefully, he wouldn’t get a chance to ask the service module. He’d just as soon melt the annoying hunk of metal and be done with it.

Riyad and Monty covered the entrance to the side tunnel. The ground here was muddy and was disturbed by several shoeprints. A set of rusted out rail lines ran down the middle of the tunnel, which itself curved off to the left, allowing their lights to reach only so far.

“We were just down here,” Summer said. “It goes on for about fifty yards before coming to a split in the tunnel. The one on the left comes to a dead-end about thirty yards after the split. The one on the right, we didn’t get a chance to explore.”

“Roger that,” Adam said. “Be careful. It looks like Kanan did go left. The robot is moving pretty slowly now, but still moving.”

With Panur still in the lead and Adam bringing up the rear, the five Humans, one Juirean and a mutant moved cautiously down the tunnel. At the ‘Y,’ they hugged the dripping sides of the passageway, moving closer to the signals for the robot Adam could track.

“Just a few more yards,” Adam whispered. Just then, he felt a tingle in his mind, an itch at the back of his head. He paused, turning to look behind him. Had Kanan teleported?

“The robot’s here.” Panur’s voice echoed off the stone walls as he reached the end of the tunnel. “But I don’t see the briefcase.”

A powerful blast of air, dirt and rock struck Adam from behind, coming from the direction of the team. He was thrown forward, landing hard on his face and in a frigid pool of dirty water. In the darkness, his ATD took over, enhancing the scene with an eerie green glow. Dust clouds filled the tunnel, along with a wall of still tumbling rock behind him.

Panur, are you okay?

Of course, came the answer in his head. The rest of us are, too. We’re in the back chamber—“Yes, he’s okay,” Adam heard Panur address the others, while still within the mind link. Kanan’s not here.

Adam felt the presence behind him. He rolled in the muddy pool until he could see the hovering orb.

Yeah, I know. He’s here.

Get to your feet, Adam Cain, Kanan ordered through another telepathic connection. Adam wondered if Kanan could hear his conversation with Panur and vice versa?

Adam stood up. His once immaculate Enforcer uniform, the one with the hole in the chest, was now unrecognizable, covered as it was with mud and caked dirt.

Come with me; I require your assistance.

Panur, can you hear me?

Of course.

Can you hear Kanan?

No, should I?

He’s talking to me through the ATD. I was wondering if he could hear.

If I can’t hear him, then he probably can’t hear me. Make sure you don’t cross our circuits, and we should be fine. What is he doing?

He’s leading me back down the tunnel—wait, we just turned into the other one at the ‘Y.’

Kanan hovered above a spot near a jagged part of the rock wall. Hidden behind an outcropping was the silver briefcase.

Take it. You will bring it to my ship.

He wants me to take the case to his ship, Adam said through his ATD, hopefully to Panur. He didn’t know how the ATD knew which mind to link with, but so far, it was doing fine.

You should probably do what he wants. We are just now getting our bearings, trying to figure a way out of here. We can’t help you at this point.

Adam hesitated, standing defiantly before the orb, holding the briefcase.

You know you can’t kill me, Adam said with all the bravado his mind could muster.

I know you are lying. You were very close to death the last time we met. I accept that your artificial capacity gives you a certain tolerance, but I also sensed you were very close to your limit. Do not test me, Adam Cain. I assure you I have much more capacity for delivering energy bolts than you have to absorb them.

Adam grimaced. The service module had a point.

Okay, fine, I’ll help you. But what about my friends?

Worry not about them. That is what I do not understand about living creatures. You are often more concerned with the welfare of others than you are for yourselves.

And that is why you’ll always be just a machine. You have no connection to others.

Your connection to others will cost you your life, Adam Cain. And another fact: Had you stayed away, the only difference in today’s outcome is you would live to see another day. As it is now, that is very unlikely. Now, proceed. We must hurry. There is not much time left.

What do you mean? What’s going to happen.

Nothing that concerns you. Now, go.

Chapter 14

Everyone in the cave had suffered some injury, everyone except Panur. Fortunately, none were severe. And now they huddled at the back of the tunnel, staring at a pile of rubble that blocked the exit. The strange apparition of robotic Adam Cain stood to one side, wobbling slightly on pre-programmed motors, making it appear as though it was still being controlled by the Aris orb. The deception worked, making Adam believe Kanan was still within the robot.

Panur told the others about Adam, Kanan and the mysterious case, so they couldn’t expect him to help. Hell, depending on how far Kanan’s ship was from the mine, Adam could be dead by now. All the orb wanted him for was to carry the damn case.

Besides the possibility that they could suffocate in the small chamber, the thought on everyone’s mind was whether or not Kanan planned to destroy the planet. From a purely logical point, he wouldn’t. At least that’s what Panur believed. His fleet had been destroyed, so he had no need to eliminate any more of the allied facilities. He also had the case, which would probably set him on a different path toward—what, no one knew. In that case, the Dead Worlds may not matter at all. Of course, all this speculation was up for interpretation.

Or, as Sherri pointed out, Kanan could be a jerk and destroy Navarus because he could.

Either way, if they didn’t figure a way out of the cave, they’d be dead in a couple of hours at the most—everyone except Panur.

This got Sherri thinking. If the planet broke apart, and Panur wasn’t sucked into one of the dark matter singularities, there was no doubt he’d survive. Granted, it may be centuries—if ever—before his frozen body was recovered from the vacuum of space. But if he was sucked into a singularity, what would happen to him then?

Sherri’s musings only lasted a moment before the team went to work, removing rock from the entrance.

The blockage couldn’t be that thick. Kanan used his energy bolts to superheat the moisture between the rocks to create the explosion. They hadn’t heard any subsequent cave-ins, so it was a good bet all he’d done is bought himself time to get away. And using Panur’s superhuman strength and endurance, they were making pretty good progress after only a few minutes.

“Can’t you just conjure up a big bolt of energy and blow all this stuff away?” Monty asked as he worked feverishly next to the mutant.

“I cannot do that, not without having first absorbed the energy.”

Monty stopped. “Really?”

Panur stopped as well, looking at Monty askew.

“That would be dangerous. I give off a tremendous amount of heat.”

Sherri knew what they were talking about.

“He’ll also end up naked, and none of us wants that.”

“We have to try,” Monty said. “If Kanan intends to destroy the planet, we may have time to get away. But first, we have to get out of here.”

“We might also be able to help Adam,” Riyad added.

“Yeah, that, too.”

Panur held up his hands. “I’m game if you are. But please stand back as far as you can. I’ll try to make it quick, although I can’t guarantee against future cave-ins.”

“I’m willing to risk it,” Monty persisted.

“Great,” said Sherri, surrendering to the majority. “Let me do the honors.”

“I would suggest both you and Riyad. You have the rifles. The more energy fed into me at once, the more of a reciprocal discharge I can produce.”

Sherri and Riyad, along with everyone else, stood back, pressing themselves against the back wall of the tunnel, where years ago the miners had given up on this particular vein. They cranked their Xan-fis up to full level-one.

“Keep it coming until I say stop—or you burn up,” Panur said with a smile. “Let her rip!”

The flash bolts were blinding, more blinding than normal, coming as they did in the dim light of the cave. Sherri and Riyad squinted into the flare, making sure they kept their aim on the mutant. The weapons didn’t have an automatic mode, so they had to press the trigger each time. Xan-fis had a capacity of twenty level-one bolts per charge, and even in the fight that took place outside the mine, neither had had the opportunity to light off a bolt, so they had full charges. Within seconds, Panur was glowing white-hot from the intake of forty level-one plasma bolts.

Sherri dropped the spent Xan-fi rifle and covered her face with her arms. She felt as if her skin was on fire, and it could have been. Panur was standing in a cloud of steam, rising from the boiling water on the floor. Summer was screaming at Panur to do something, goddammit, and Tidus had passed out from the heat.

None of them actually saw the ball of energy Panur cast out toward the pile of rocks blocking the tunnel. They were all turned away, either passed out or bent over in agony. The sound was incredible, a low, thundering that reverberated throughout the stone walls of the chamber.

But then the temperature began to drop. Sherri took a chance, turning around to see the hole in the top of the pile of rubble. A brilliant beam of light shot in from the other side, rapidly fading as Panur ran for the exterior of the mine.

“Help me with Tidus!” she yelled. “Everyone out of this oven. We’re melting.”

Summer was the first one to climb the low mound and move through the opening. She screeched as she lay a hand on a boulder on her right. Sherri could almost hear the skin sizzling.

“Oh my god! Watch the rocks,” Summer cried out. “They’re on fire.”

One by one, the team passed through the small opening. Tidus had regained consciousness, but he still needed some helping hands to retain his balance. Although the temperature on the other side of the blockage was still close to a hundred, it was a relief from what they’d just left.

“So. who’s brilliant idea was that!” Sherri yelled, directed her comment at Monty.

“I didn’t see anyone else coming up with something better,” Monty snapped back.

Riyad patted the big Navy master chief on the shoulder. “Hey, it worked. We’re alive, and about twenty pounds lighter. I’d call that a win.”

“Hurry up,” Summer said. “Panur’s gone outside. Hopefully, he’s rolled around in the snow a little by now to cool down.”

“And found some clothes,” Sherri added. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The team ran as best they could for the exit to the mine. Their energy was sapped, and they had discarded their jackets and coats in the tunnel, at least those who had them. Where only moments before they were about to be fried to death, they now shivered in the abrupt temperature change.

As they burst out into the dimming light of late afternoon, they gasped, and to a person, they hoped someone had brought an extra piece of clothing with them. Anything would have been better than what they saw.

Panur still glowed a little, but as Summer had predicted, he did dive into a small snowbank in the heavy shadows near the road. The icy water helped him cool down, but it didn’t cling to his near-featureless grey skin. Instead, it evaporated almost as soon as it touched him. Now Panur stood buck naked before them, full frontal and with a light cloud of white steam surrounding him like an aura.

This wasn’t the first time Sherri had seen Panur naked, but other than Riyad, she was sure it was a first for the others. And if they were like her the first time, an unasked question was answered. Now it made more sense why Lila liked him so much.

Sherri snickered. Panur was a shapeshifter, and as such, she knew he wasn’t above playing tricks on the others, even at a time like this.

“Oh, what the hell,” Monty said as he stepped up to the naked mutant. “I can’t deal with this.” He peeled off his tank top and handed it to Panur, leaving the barrel-chested Human topless; however, standing next to the still radiating mutant helped to keep him warm in the rapidly dropping temperature outside the mine. Panur took the shirt and wrapped it around his lower torso.

“We have to find Adam,” Riyad said, breaking the mood and getting everyone’s mind back on business.

“Where’s his ship?” Tidus asked. No one answered.

“When I first saw him—as Adam—he was coming up the road,” Summer said. “It must be that way.”

“Let me try to contact Adam mentally,” Panur said. “Perhaps he can lead us to Kanan’s ship.” After a moment, he turned a sad face to the others. “I’m detecting no mental connection.”

“What does that mean?” Summer asked, desperation in her voice.

“It means either he’s gone with Kanan, or else he’s dead,” said Riyad softly.

“We still have to look for him, if, if he didn’t go with Kanan,” Summer pleaded.

“I’ll go with you,” Sherri said.

Riyad joined them near the tree line.

“I will stay here and check the contents of the ore cart. Perhaps I will find a clue as to what is in the case, as well as where Kanan has gone.”

“I’ll stay with Panur,” Monty said, crowding in close to the mutant, drafting off his residual warmth. Tidus stayed with Panur, as well.

“Wait!” the mutant called out as he began his survey of the contents in the bucket. He reached in and pulled out the rectangular box Kanan was excited to find in the artifacts. Sherri froze, as did Riyad.

Chapter 15

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked Panur.

The mutant set the box on the ground and flipped open the lid.

“Yes, it is; a dark-matter collector.”

“A what?” Monty asked, leaning over Panur to look into the container.

Sherri and Riyad rushed up, followed by a bewildered Summer Rains.

“What does it do?” Summer asked.

“It collects dark matter,” Panur answered with a straight face. His tone had changed. He was no longer playing around.

Sherri peered into the box, seeing the familiar rows with tiny compartments, each with another small box inside them. She didn’t have to count them. There would be ninety. But what suddenly took her breath away was the fact that four of the holders were empty.

“How can they be empty?” she asked Panur. “The collector has been here for six years.”

“They can’t,” Panur answered. “Not unless they were recently removed.”

“Okay, guys, what’s going on?” Summer asked, picking up on the tension between Panur, Sherri and Riyad.

“Four of the cubes are missing. Considering the exponential effects of critical mass—”

“Wait! Are these the things Kanan makes his dark matter bombs out of?” Summer asked.

“That is correct, Ms. Rains,” Panur replied.

“So, he made a dark matter bomb before he left!”

“It would appear so. The containers replenish themselves in only two days, so for these cubicles to be empty means the cubes were removed since the collector was discovered.”

“Which was something like two hours ago, at the most. What did he do with them? Could he build a bomb just like that?” Summer snapped her fingers.

Panur stood up. “Kanan has the expertise to construct a crude joining mechanism; he could have done it with several items I see in the cart. And a simple degradation timer, as simple as a flask of falling sand, would be enough to allow him time to escape before fusion. But this event will be much smaller than those on Dasnon.”

“How much smaller?” Monty asked.

“Not small enough.” Panur scanned the eyes of those around him. “There is no time to search for Adam. We must get to the shuttle as soon as possible. There is no time to waste.”

What followed was a mad dash up the mountain. Although everyone except Panur was injured to some degree and weary to their bones, they did the best they could in the thin mountain air. It wasn’t so much a race as a slog, with Summer, Tidus and Monty continually bitching about how much farther is it? And then complaining even louder about why Riyad hadn’t landed the shuttle closer. Add to that, Monty’s whining about ‘the money, the money.’

Riyad snapped back, telling them how hard it was to find any landing spot, and to be thankful he found one at all.

The team was almost to the point of fist-a-cuffs by the time they found the waiting shuttle and barreled aboard.

Riyad didn’t even bother telling them to strap in before he was already firing off the lifting jets. He fastened his safety harness once they were in the air.

“So, how big will this thing be?” he asked Panur. He had a memory of him and Adam setting off a single pair of cubes on the planet Woken years before. He couldn’t imagine doubling the number of cubes would make that much difference.

“Each set of cubes is similar to your Richter Scale for measuring earthquakes. Each set is a hundred times more powerful than the set before.”

Riyad gasped and shoved the throttle to full power, although that was where it was already sitting.

“Maybe we’re just overreacting,” Sherri said. “Maybe he didn’t—”

The Ed Gibson, Jr. suddenly shuddered and began to lose altitude, spinning in a wild vortex. Monty and Tidus weren’t strapped in, and they ended up glued to the overhead, grasping for conduits and ventilation tubes to keep from being buffeted to death. Summer, Sherri and Panur were strapped into the only other seats in the cockpit besides Riyad’s. They were tossed from side to side as the ship tumbled while Riyad fought to regain control.

“Oh, god, he’s destroyed Navarus,” Summer cried out.

“Not all of it,” Panur corrected. “Now, prepare for the backwash.”

“The what?” someone asked.

A roaring blast of air now hit the small shuttle, rocketing it skyward. G-forces crushed everyone against whatever bulkhead or restraints near them as their lungs almost collapsed from the sudden acceleration.

The lifting jets were useless, as the tiny craft was moving much faster than the exhaust. Engines sputtered then flared out. A moment later, they reached apogee. They became weightless, before beginning the low fall back toward the surface.

Riyad shook off the vertigo and began franticly resetting the engines. They sputtered again but didn’t catch. He tried it again. And again. On the fourth try, the engines ignited. By then, the Ed Gibson, Jr. was careening toward an unrecognizable surface. Riyad pulled back the stick and using the natural aerodynamics of the shuttle—which weren’t much—began to regain control. He pitched the nose up, and the ship began to gain altitude.

Someone bumped into Riyad’s back as the cockpit filled with all seven members of the team, each trying to get a look out the viewport. To help them, Riyad activated a camera on the bottom of the shuttle and sent it to his main screen. What appeared took their breath away.

Although most of the features on the surface were still obscured by clouds of dust and debris, it was impossible to miss the impact of the dark matter event. Below them was a perfectly round and smooth bowl, sitting in the exact spot where Mt. Zocor once stood. The granite surface of the depression reflected the light of the setting sun, creating a spotlight out of the depression. It was both beautiful and frightening. The forests on the adjoining mountains lay in patterns on the ground, having been first knocked down by winds being sucked in toward the singularity, and then cast out as the atmosphere rebounded. Although the event just occurred, there were no eruptions of volcanic magma. The mountain range had been pushed up as a result of plate tectonics, not volcanic activity. There was a chance there would never be magma entering the gigantic bowl, although it would undoubtedly form a lake, a beautiful, incredibly deep and perfectly circular lake where the mountain once stood.

“There it goes,” Monty moaned. “Everything, down the drain. And we had it. We had the money.”

“I am sorry, my friend,” said Tidus, the Juirean. “But we never had it. And if we stayed, we would be gone now, just as Mt. Zocor.”

“We are alive,” said Panur. “That should count for something.”

“Alive … but poor,” Monty muttered. “I’m not sure if I prefer that to the alternative.”

“Dead and rich?” Summer inquired.

“What about Adam?” Sherri asked.

Panur looked at her. “We must assume Kanan took him with him.”

“And why must we assume that?” Sherri asked sarcastically.

“Because Adam is a curiosity to him. He built a robot to mimic his form. He knows he has certain abilities beyond those of normal Humans. And he still needs someone to carry his case. Adam poses no threat to him at the moment. Kanan will keep him around to be his service module.”

Sherri shrugged. “I hope you’re right.” She looked out the viewport at the altered landscape of this part of Navarus. “What now?”

“Mr. Tarazi, contact the Ed Gibson. Let us get an update on the battle for the system. I am curious if Kanan recalled any of his ships once he left Navarus. That might give us a clue as to where he might go; to a planet with a military and industrial base, or to a place where a single ship can effectively hide.”

Riyad nodded and opened the link. Lila’s gorgeous and always calm face appeared on the screen a moment later. She took in the gathering of faces she could see on her screen and frowned. Arieel rushed in to look, as well.

“Where’s Adam,” Arieel screeched. The glum, dirty and bruised faces on her screen told the story of an incredible fight that had just taken place. Add to that, news of the Zocor event had already reached them aboard the Ed Gibson.

“He is with Kanan,” Panur answered. “At least that is what we believe.”

“Everyone else appears to be safe,” Lila said.

Panur nodded. “What about the battle? Did Kanan recall any of his forces?”

“He did not. Our victory has been complete, although pyretic, with regards to our forces. Only thirty-nine of our vessels remain operational and damage-free. There are several others that will require extensive repair. Kanan’s service modules received no countermanding orders, so they fought to the last ship, showing no fear of the consequences. I must also assume most of the modules have been destroyed or are incapacitated. Those inside the Lerpiniere fields would have been destroyed with their ships. Others may have teleported and may be existing in space. They will eventually find sanctuary, but without Kanan guiding their actions, they should be harmless.” Lila leaned in closer to the screen. “And where is Kanan?”

Panur pursed his thin, grey lips. “That we don’t know. But in his escape, he took with him a mysterious case which he valued even beyond his DEmon fleet. Others here say he referred to it as The Key or containing The Key. To what, we don’t know. Were you able to track any ships leaving the area just before the event?”

Lila shook her head. “Not at this time. I can replay the data files. We had sensors focused on the region to monitor your activities and those of Kanan. I have not had time to study any of the logs while I directed the battle. I will do that now.”

“Very good.” Panur looked around at the tired, bruised and sad faces of those around him. “Lila, we are returning to the Ed Gibson—”

“Not Navarus?” Riyad asked, interrupting.

“Not at the moment, Mr. Tarazi. Let us give it a little time, in case Kanan does have other dark matter bombs planted on the surface.”

Riyad nodded. “Good point. Very good point. Setting a course for the mothership. Everyone just sit back and enjoy the ride. I know I will.”

Chapter 16

Kanan wasn’t your typical starship pilot. As a hovering orb capable of remotely integrating with the electronics of the dark-energy warship, he could do it from anywhere aboard. Even so, Adam felt uncomfortable as the craft shot into space with no one seated at the pilot’s station.

“Where are we going?” Adam asked.

The service module had no front or back, but it did seem to have a preferred orientation. There was a slightly darker green patina at a spot on the orb, and Adam took this as its face. It was turned in his direction at the moment.

Nowhere. We must first wait.

Adam found it easier to speak aloud; it came more natural to him. Kanan could hear his words, but he had to respond mentally for Adam to hear him.

“For what?”

You will see.

Adam cringed. He’s going to blow up the planet! Adam’s thought was confined to his mind—or at least he hoped it was.

Adam stood to the back of the small cockpit in the Gracilian-built starship, gazing out at the blue and green globe of Navarus. Kanan had made such a big deal of getting off the planet as soon as possible; now, they lingered at the edge of space, the craft angled to get the best view of the planet through the narrow side viewports on the bridge.

And then it happened. A bright flash of light along the brown, green and white line of jagged peaks known as the Zocor Range. But it was small, isolated. Adam recognized the location; it was Mt. Zocor itself, the site of Summer and her team’s efforts to locate Jroshin’s hidden treasure.

Adam craned his neck to get the best view. As tragic as this event was, he was watching for subsequent flashes, a series of them that would rip Navarus apart to its core. He was mesmerized by the movement of the dust clouds around the mountain, visible even from this distance. They must be moving at hundreds, even thousands of miles per hour. At first, they were sucked in toward the singularity, before rapidly rebounding outward. Although he knew it was impossible to hear sound promulgate through the vacuum of space, he could imagine the incredible sonic boom from the event.

Moments later, as things began to settle down, an ever-widening ring of brown dust radiated out from the epicenter. A light caught Adam’s attention; it was a reflection, that of the setting star called Liave on the polished surface of a perfectly round bowl where the mountain once stood. It looked like a silver dollar laid on a topographical map of the mountain range.

Adam realized he’d been holding his breath during the entire event. Now he let out a deep sigh. This episode was much smaller than the ones he witnessed remotely on the surface of Dasnon. Was this all Kanan had planned? When the starship suddenly changed orientation and sped off into space, Adam had his answer.

“That’s it?” he asked.

It was an opportunity I could not pass up. If the battle for Navarus had progressed differently, it would have produced a different result.

“And what about the battle?”

It is concluded. You will be pleased to learn that your forces prevailed. The interphase defense your mutants employed was effective.

“And that doesn’t bother you? Your fleet has been destroyed, along with all your service modules.”

That matters not. I can always build more if the need arises. As it stands, that should not be the case.

“What do you mean? What happens now?

Your inquisitive nature is to be admired; however, not in this case. Suffice to say I came to Navarus—this time, and before—on a quest. The rumor has now been confirmed. Everything has now changed.

“The case, it has something to do with the case?” Adam exclaimed.

Of course. Did your associates not tell you what it contains?

Adam hesitated. They hadn’t; there wasn’t time before all hell broke loose. All he knew was that Kanan valued the silver briefcase above everything else. “Sure, they did,” he lied. “I’m wondering how it affects me.”

The key does not affect you directly.

The Key! It contained a key of some kind. But to what?

“Then why am I still alive? I got your precious key to your ship. You could have left me on Navarus to suffer the same fate as my friends.”

Kanan moved in closer to Adam’s face, stopping only about a foot away. Adam studied the subtle lines in the design, seams where the Gracilians were able to access his inner workings. If only he had the same access at the moment…

You should realize by now that I consider you unique among the biologics, Kanan answered in his mind. I created a transport in your image, and I am still curious as to the abilities you possess from your artificial implant. Yes, I detect it, knowing its exact location. If the opportunity arises, I may even have it removed to study more of its construction. I know it allows you to absorb energy bolts—although of a limited amount—as well as enable mind-to-mind communications. I must assume you have other abilities besides these. I am curious. I also caution you against using them against me. I will not hesitate to test your absorption capacity.

I’d like to see that, too, Adam thought to himself. As with the first time Kanan fed dark energy bolts into his body, he’d love to have a miniature blackhole open up and put an end to the whole lousy Kanan affair.

But to answer your question more directly, Kanan continued. You are to be my service module, just as all biologics are destined to become. As you are aware, I have certain limitations of my own with regard to utility. You will be my arms, hands and legs. And with your telepathic abilities, you can receive my commands easier than other biologics. That is why you live, only to serve me. Cease being of value to me, and I will end your life. I sense that with your Human desire for martyrdom, you would welcome that. Just be warned; your death will not change the fate of the galaxy. What is to happen will happen, just as your efforts on Navarus resulted only in the deaths of your friends.

Adam pursed his lips as his heart sank. Yes, his friends. And so many of them. He’d lost friends before in battle, but never so many at one time. He was drained of energy, although a certain amount of anger remained. He had to fight to keep it under control, lest he do something rash. His ace in the hole was the quantum blackhole within his ATD. Beyond that, Kanan was probably right. Unless he could take the evil service module with him, his death would serve no purpose. With that realization, Adam reluctantly decided to bide his time. He had to learn what Kanan had planned and then figure a way to stop him. His fleet was gone, yet not his enthusiasm for his mission. There had to be something which the key unlocked that would replace his military strength, even surpass it. Adam was curious about what that could be. Learning Kanan secrets could be the key to victory. Adam pursed his lips at his mental pun. Fortunately, Kanan couldn’t read minds as well as he thought he could.

“Okay, I accept my fate. I’ll be your servant; I don’t have a choice. So, what is your bidding, my master? Where to next?”

We are going to Gracilia.

“Why there?”

Again, with your questions. We are going there because that is where the vault is. That should be evident. Now, retire to another part of the ship and recover your energy. Biologics require that. You will be no good to me if you expire prematurely.

“Yes, my master,” Adam said in his best subservient voice. He even bowed, although he was sure the gesture would be lost on the orb. Orbs don’t bow.

Chapter 17

“I have had the opportunity to scan the recordings from Navarus,” said Lila. “A ship was detected lifting from the surface and speeding away. It was classified as a DEmon.”

Riyad and his team had been back on the Ed Gibson for six hours, soaking up the dichotomy of winning the battle for Navarus while also losing Adam. Particularly hard hit was Summer’s three-person crew. Although Adam was their friend, the loss of two billion found Juirean credits was having more of an impact on the trio. All that time, all that effort, all that expense … and for nothing. As Monty said, it would have been better if they hadn’t found the money than to find it and then have it ripped away from them in the flash of a dark matter event.

“Where’s it going?” Riyad asked, referring to Kanan’s ship.

He and Panur were on the bridge of the old freighter, while Kaylor piloted the ship. They hadn’t begun the trip back to Navarus yet, still waiting to make sure no other dark matter events were scheduled to take place. Besides, now with the likely discovery of Kanan’s ship, they may be heading out on another mission. Riyad had bought into Panur’s argument that Adam was probably still alive and now in the service of the Aris orb. To believe the alternative wasn’t acceptable, at least not to Riyad. Besides, deep in his soul, Riyad felt Adam was still alive. He had to find him. Adam would do the same for him.

“The track is too early to tell,” Lila answered. “He is heading out Zone. There are dozens of potential sites for him to land upon. And without a fleet to harbor, he could land on any of them, and it would be virtually impossible to find him. And with all allied forces concentrated at Navarus, we have no scouts among the Dead Worlds. All we can do is follow the track and hope he does not make any deviations.”

“But we are going to follow the track, aren’t we?” Riyad asked anxiously.

“Of course,” Panur answered. “Kanan must believe I am gone. He knows little of Lila but will still consider her a threat. I am still immensely curious why he so cavalierly abandoned his fleet. He is a logical being. He would weigh pros and cons, value and utility. And after all that, he concluded that his fleet no longer had value for his mission. Why?”

“He can build more ships,” Riyad offered.

“Difficult,” Panur said. “He would first have to find a location with the proper resources. Then single-handily, he would have to subjugate a labor force to do his bidding. He is but one unit. Before, he had the Gracilians to build both his ships and his service modules, and they were willing participants.”

“Then it has to be this Key of his,” Riyad stated. “It’s a gamechanger.”

“I would agree. But what is it a key to? And considering the semantics, a key could be either a physical object or a metaphor, as in the key to something else, something new, bigger, more powerful.”

Riyad sighed. “Well, it’s obvious we’re not going to find out which it is by second-guessing ourselves. Thanks to Lila, we at least have a thread of a chance to find him … and Adam. So, when do we leave?”

Panur looked at Kaylor. “My Belsonian friend, please link to Lila’s navigation screen; set your course appropriately.”

“With pleasure, although I would recommend that you have other ships join us. The Ed Gibson may not make it out of the system.”

Chapter 18

Adam went aft, looking for a stateroom in which to crash. The module was right; he was dead tired and beat up. He not only needed rest but to get out of his torn, wet and muddy uniform. He entered a room with double bunks and checked a cabinet for a change of clothing. Although Gracilians were stockier and taller than Humans, he was sure he could adapt anything he found to suit him. To his relief, he found a single dark blue uniform hanging in the cabinet. The DEmons were originally built for Gracilian crews, but that was well over six years ago. He was lucky there was still a uniform aboard. He removed the garment and placed it against his body. It was huge, but that was better than it being too small. He quickly removed his clothes.

He sensed a presence and turned, finding the green-tinted Aris orb hovering in the air on the other side of the compartment. Adam was naked, so he spread his legs defiantly and placed his hands on his hips.

“You like what you see, you pervert?”

I am here to let you know you are constantly under surveillance. Do not attempt any subterfuge; I will know if you do.

“All I’m trying to do now is get clean and warm. I may even have to go to the bathroom. You’re welcome to stay for the show.”

Your bodily functions are of no interest to me.

“Not from where I stand. You seem to be very interested in the Human form. Hell, you even built a model of me so you could experience what it’s like to be Adam Cain.”

I have explained my reasoning. There is nothing else to say.

And with that, the orb disappeared. Adam grinned. A few days ago, Panur explained to him how Kanan wasn’t as smart as everyone thought he was. He was a machine simply following his programming. Granted, that programming was advanced and his internal systems beyond anything that could be built today. But his intelligence was mimicked. He operated on conditional programming, the classic if-then construction, analyzing each situation as a choice. Of course, he could do this at remarkable speed. Panur contrasted that with his and Lila’s brain functions, which Adam learned, were different from one another, something he didn’t realize. Lila was the end-product of a multi-billion-year-long experiment to create a superbeing. Everything about her was superior to what came before, even her parents, Adam and Arieel. But having said that, Lila’s brain was just a much more efficient form of a standard biologic mind, efficient to the point of perfection. Her immortality contributed to that. Her brain cells never died and nor lost their efficiency. In fact, they became more efficient with time, using her life experiences to build a database that never overloaded.

Panur, on the other hand, was a whole other beast. He, too, was immortal, yet in a different way. It was as if every cell in his body was a brain cell. That way, any single unit could recreate the system, complete with genetic memory and experiences. His thoughts were processed in a different way, and not concentrated in only his so-called brain. His entire body was his brain.

He went on to explain that that was why Adam’s body had reacted so radically to the injection of a relatively few mutant brain cells into his body several years ago. Adam was still feeling the effects of that merging. But as Panur explained, he would have gone through the same process if the cells had been taken from his big toe instead of his head. Adam wasn’t sure if that was good or not, but it did change how he looked at the event.

Then he grimaced. It would sure be nice to have a boatload of Panur’s cells in his body at the moment. Then maybe he could figure out a way to defeat the ancient Aris service module.

Adam washed up in the en suite grooming station and then put on the uniform. He had to roll up the sleeves and the pant legs and then secure them with strips of fabric he tore from other excess parts of the garment. It wasn’t fashionable, but it was better than wearing the damp, cold and filthy outfit from before.

After changing, Adam lay down on the oversize bunk—oversized for a Human, but not a Gracilian. He reflected on something Kanan said earlier, about his not-so-secret abilities, thanks to the ATD. Adam was sure the module suspected there were other features that Adam had not displayed to date, and there were. He began to take inventory of those abilities.

Besides the ability to absorb a finite amount of energy and to communicate telepathically, Adam could also accumulate static electricity from the air. This ability came in handy for burning things and as a handy flashlight when needed. However, what was especially neat was that he could compress air into near-solid platforms with the concentrations of electricity. Adam discovered he could do this several years ago, and although it had been a long time since he made one of his flying carpets of air, he was sure he could do it again. At the time when most of his team had ATDs, he was the only one who could manifest the platforms, thanks to the residual effects of once having Panur’s brain cells in his body. It took a special level of concentration to do it. And now, as he lay on the bed, he could see several situations where this could come in handy.

And then he circled back to the static electricity itself. Lila had detailed how a static electric build-up between Lerpiniere space and normal space could confuse the modules. It worked during the brief time he watched the battle take place while on the Ed Gibson. Could Adam use a burst of static electricity to knock Kanan out for a few minutes? He had no way of knowing, and it would be a one-time event if he tried. Either it would work or it wouldn’t. He would save that as a last-ditch effort.

Adam then went over some of the other things this new ATD gave him, like heightened senses with regards to sight and hearing. He couldn’t see how that would come in handy, but they couldn’t hurt. Other than that, he couldn’t think of anything else. Arieel had cryptically hinted at other abilities; however, they never got around to talking about that again.

Besides the advantages his ATD gave him, Adam also had the residual effects of the merging with Panur’s brain so many years ago. He was about twenty percent stronger and faster than a typical Human, which in reality could also be achieved with conditioning and training. So, that wasn’t much of an advantage. And against Kanan, the whole physical aspect of his being was moot.

No, it would be his ATD that would get him out of this mess. That was unless Kanan decided to pull it from his body. Adam smiled. But for that to happen, the damn service module would need hands. And that was something he didn’t have.

Chapter 19

Seven days was an incredibly long time to spend alone on a Gracilian starship with an evil Aris service module. There was no TV, nothing to read, and Adam wasn’t given computer privileges to access the Galactic Library. Therefore, he spent most of his time sleeping, exercising or eating. The food processors aboard the DEmon were adequate; however, it was evident from the taste that the food stock aboard was from the pre-Kracion era. He had no idea how long food cubes lasted, but these things were nasty. Any moment now, he expected to be cloistered in the bathroom with a severe case of Gracilia’s Revenge.

Eventually, the ship reached the planet. This was Adam’s third visit to Gracilia, and like the other two, it wasn’t for a vacation.

Kanan mentioned a vault. Adam searched his memory and came up with a passing reference the Gracilian scientists, Kovach and Vodenik, had made about the other dark matter collectors locked away in a secure vault on Gracilia. Could this be the same vault? And if so, why would Kanan need a key? The damn thing could teleport, as well as hack into electronic circuits. He couldn’t imagine a place that Kanan couldn’t get into. Of course, the reference to a key may indeed be a metaphor. Whatever it was, Adam was about to find out. Whatever Kanan had planned for the trip to Gracilia, he would need arms and legs, which meant something would have to be picked up and carried. Adam, the mule, was ready.

To his surprise, Kanan steered the DEmon to one of the planet’s largest cities. As with everywhere else in the Dead Zone, colonists had come to Gracilia, with most settling in the existing cities and towns. The atmosphere here was cleaner than most planets in the Zone, seeing that Gracilia was the first planet irradiated by Kracion. But that only helped so far. The Maris-Kliss fertilizing operation here was about on par with most of the other worlds, so the land was still in the process of recovering.

As far as salvage operations went, the colonists were well on the way of stripping the planet of most of its sellable items. Although most of the Gracilian leaders were locked up in various prisons across the galaxy after the failed attempt to overthrow the government of Aac’or, another tier of natives now reaped the benefits of the salvage operations. They enthusiastically supported the efforts of the colonists.

Adam was on the bridge when the ship landed. He watched the three main monitors at the pilot station, although no one was physically at the station. A dozen colonists ran from the choking exhaust gas that filled a large, dry and dead park outside one of the larger government buildings. Adam was surprised Kanan had come to a city. The huge underground facility that housed the DEmons was located far out in the desert, away from civilization. He was expecting the vault to be hidden away, as well.

Kanan appeared closed to Adam’s right shoulder, startling him.

Come with me; it is time to go. Bring the case.

Adam followed orders, and a moment later, he was standing in the surprisingly cold air of Gracilia, feeling the coming of winter in this part of the planet. He should have worn a coat—if he had a coat to wear.

Curious colonists watched them through broken windows and open doorways. Like all the worlds in the Zone, the structures had suffered from the ravages of time and neglect. The colonists didn’t care. They’d taken a few of the buildings as their living quarters and restored power to them. The rest were in the process of being slowly gutted, with their treasures then crated up and shipped off-planet for sale in other parts of the galaxy.

At first, Kanan led the way, then once a destination was identified, he teleported ahead thirty yards and hovered by a doorway, waiting for Adam to catch up.

“What’s this building?” Adam asked. He wasn’t expecting an answer; the module had been increasingly tight-lipped over the past few days, ignoring Adam’s attempts to engage him in conversation, hoping to get more intel on the orb’s mission.

This was once the research headquarters for Aris artifacts. Aric Jroshin worked from here. It was from the vault that he took his items to store on Liave-3.

Adam looked up at the edifice, making a quick count of the floors. At least twenty, and these were Gracilian floors, which made the building more comparable to a thirty-story Human building.

“I take it there’s more stuff in the vault than just what Jroshin took. What else is in it?”

I do not know, although I suspect.

The pair entered the building, and Kanan led Adam to a stairwell. Power hadn’t been restored to the building; even so, Adam was surprised when Kanan moved to the higher levels. He assumed the vault would be in the basement. Instead, it was somewhere on the upper floors.

“I’m confused,” Adam said. “You don’t know what’s in the vault? But you can teleport through any material. Haven’t you been inside?”

The exterior is protected by an interphase field. I know you know what that is since your mutants used it against my warships.

Adam laughed. “Sounds like the Gracilians didn’t trust you. That must have pissed you off.”

They had their reasons. But now, I have the key. I will be able to gain access.

“How can the interphase field still be active with the power off to the building?”

The vault has a backup source of power, independent of the city’s power grid. Now stop your questioning. It is annoying.

They climbed the rest of the floors in silence until exiting the stairwell on the nineteenth floor. Adam reasoned the vault must not be that big. The building was tall and narrow. He began to wonder how many artifacts could be stored here. He knew they had three dark matter collectors, which didn’t take up much room. What else could there be? And what was this thing Kanan suspected was there but wasn’t sure. Adam grinned. If it wasn’t here, then the service module wasted his fleet for nothing.

It wasn’t much of a leap to figure that the wide, grey wall with the vault-like door set in it was the vault. There were no hinges on the door, just a thin seam outlining its existence. And in the center of the door was a star-shaped cut-out, about six inches in diameter.

Place the case on the floor and then step back.

Adam obeyed. Kanan dropped down until he was only an inch or two from the top of the case. Internal servos began to hum within the case, and a moment later, the lid separated slightly from the base.

Open it.

Adam was curious about what was inside, so he bent over with enthusiasm, opening the case.

Inside was a bed of insulating, foam-like material, black in color, and with a golden object embedded in the center of the pad. It was star-shaped, with a round center and five radiating arms that didn’t come to points, but rather blunt ends.

Place the key in the holder on the door.

Adam took the object in his hand.

“Again, I’m confused. If this lock is electronic, can’t you just hack into it?”

I could circumvent the system if the Gracilians had not pre-planned for such an event. All the circuits terminate at the location of the key. Only by inserting this particular object can the locking mechanism be deactivated, and the interphase field turned off.

“So, once the key is in the door, you don’t actually need to open the door, do you?”

I do if I expect you to remove the Formation for me.

Chapter 20

The way the word Formation sounded in Adam’s mind made him believe it was capitalized.

“The Formation? What’s that?”

It is why we are here. I knew the Gracilians recovered a part of the Formation some time ago; however, I realized they did not have all of it. Then talk began of other discoveries. Since it was in fragments, they did not know what they had at the time. It requires all the parts of the Formation to make it work. Rumors said that containers holding the disks were placed within the vault—this vault. Adam felt Kanan laugh in his mind. All along the Gracilians believed they were keeping the dark matter accumulators from me when they had no idea what incredible power they had within their grasp.

“Again, what is the Formation?” Adam ventured to ask. What the hell, Kanan might tell him.

Its function and origin are far beyond your capacity to comprehend. Now step back. The door is about to open.

The thick, metal panel moved silently, extending out from the wall before slipping to the side. Lights popped on inside the vault, confirming Adam’s belief that the room wasn’t very big. But for its size, it was packed full of a hodge-podge of miscellaneous items, and without apparent organization. For all the reverence Kanan placed on the vault, Adam thought it looked more like someone’s unkempt garage, with crap thrown helter-skelter, rather than a repository for the lost relics of the greatest civilization in galactic history. Parallel aisles separated the clutter from other clutter made up of crates, glass boxes and racks piled high with an assortment of old, musty and even encrusted artifacts.

“This is where you hope to find the ultimate power in the galaxy?” Adam asked with a laugh.

That is an apt description, Adam Cain. Now follow me inside.

So, this Formation thing isn’t very big, Adam reasoned, keeping his thoughts to himself. And it certainly wasn’t afforded a place of prestige within the disorganized mess, that was for sure.

Kanan floated forward; Adam followed.

Over here, removed this stack.

Adam moved a pile of smaller cases and set them on a shelf of a nearby rack. Kanan dropped down lower and scanned the contents of the open container.

No, move on.

Adam noticed a long metal rod, coated in the same green patina as Kanan. He picked it up.

“What’s this?” he asked. “It looks like it’s made out of the same stuff as you are?”

Set that down. It is a memory rod for a source module. It is hardly made of the same material as I am. It is simply old.

Adam shrugged and set the four-foot-long-rod back on the pile.

He passed three of the missing dark matter collectors, imagining how much destructive power they contained. Two-hundred seventy cubes; holy crap! If they were placed in sequence and the microscopic dark matter particles made to spin, the resulting event could suck the entire Milky Way Galaxy into the resulting singularity. Adam shuddered, awed by the incredible potential of the cubes that were only three feet away. Power enough to destroy a galaxy.

And supposedly, what Kanan was looking for was even more powerful than that.

This crate, move it aside, Kanan ordered.

Adam moved along the narrow aisle until he came to the crate. It wasn’t heavy, but it did take hands and arms to move. Adam snickered at the helpless orb. Not as powerful as you think you are, dickhead, he thought—to himself.

Yes, open the case.

“This is it, the Formation?” Adam asked.

No, it is not; however, it is still something quite interesting. Service modules had these … before.

Within the case were hundreds of tiny shiny metal cubes, each about half-an-inch square. Immediately upon opening the box, the cubes began to lift out and attach themselves to Kanan’s metal body. They appeared to be magnetic, and they built upon themselves, expanding Kanan’s body in layer upon layer like Legos, a set of silver appendages growing by the second.

I did not know they found these.

“What are they?”

As you see; accessories, designed to give added utility to the service modules.

Such as arms and hands! Adam suddenly realized. Kanan’s shape looked more like a metal octopus at this point, with the longer strings of cubes waving in the air hypnotically, taking on a life of their own.

Mesmerized, Adam began to worry about his utility.

There is more. Behind the case, move that box.

Adam stepped forward quickly, showing Kanan than he was still needed. Beyond was a brown wooden container, not much more than eight inches long and three deep.

There will be more, seven to be exact.

Adam stepped over a large crate until he could reach another stack of boxes. He began to rummage through what to him looked like junk. Even so, his efforts were rewarded when he discovered more of the containers.

There is one more. Find it! Kanan commanded.

The weird metal octopus looking over his shoulder was becoming more emotional by the second. These boxes had to hold the separate parts of the Formation, stored in ornately carved wooden containers that couldn’t possibly be made of wood. They couldn’t have lasted three billion years if they were. This was was something else.

Find it!

“I’m looking!” Adam yelled back. “Get off my back. Give me some room.”

Kanan obliged. Seven of the containers were stacked on a rack nearby with the module’s newly formed body hovering over them, three long tentacles swaying like a Hulu dancer.

Adam shuffled through the artifacts, looking for the missing container. Kanan mentioned that the Gracilians didn’t know what they had and that the parts had been found at different times. The missing box could be anywhere. In fact, there was a possibility it wasn’t even in the vault. For all anyone knew, it could have been used as a paperweight on Aric Jroshin’s desk. Adam could only hope that was the case.

Although he could anticipate what Kanan would do to him once the last box was found, he continued to search. With Kanan’s newly acquired arms, the module could carry the containers out of the vault himself. That was why when Adam saw the edge of the last container, he shifted his body around so Kanan couldn’t see.

“I think I see something over there,” Adam said, pointing to a spot on the other side of the aisle.

With his newly-acquired appendages, it was easier to see where Kanan was looking. He was still engrossed in the other containers Adam already recovered and paid the Human little attention. That was good because Adam had a plan.

Shifting his body slightly, Adam reached out and took the four-foot-long memory rod in his right hand. Then with his left, he opened the palm, concentrating on forming a static electricity ball as fast as possible. To his surprise, the object flashed into existence, catching Adam by surprise. He credited the upgraded ATD for the speed of the accumulation.

Although Kanan didn’t have eyes, he did have sensors. He noticed either the heat or the sound of the flickering ball almost the second Adam conjured it up. But then with a flick of his hand, Adam sent the blue and white shot of lightning racing toward the orb.

Kanan became enveloped in a cracking coating of electricity, his artificial limbs now gyrating wildly as several of the cubes fell off and tinkled on the metal floor of the vault.

In an instant, Adam had the four-foot-long memory rod gripped firmly by both hands, coiled and ready to go.

“Did I mention that I played baseball in high school? I was pretty good.” Adam groaned as he unleashed a homerun hitting swing at the hanging curveball that was the hovering service module.

Adam made solid contact, sending Kanan crashing to the back of the vault and throwing most—if not all—of his metal accessories cascading into the piles of ancient Aris artifacts.

Adam didn’t wait to analyze the result of his attack. He knew it probably wouldn’t kill the orb, but it felt good to be doing something. He leaned over a pile of crates and snatched up the last container holding the Formation and bolted for the exit. Through his ATD, he accessed the controls to the door. Now that the key was in the holder, the circuits were active. Mentally, Adam severed an electronic circuit, and the door began to cycle closed, tripped by an automatic response when the contact was broken. Adam prayed that this also reactivated the interphase field. If it did, then Kanan could be trapped in the vault.

A moment later, Kanan zipped through the opening, only a fraction of a second before the door closed.

Adam smirked. So much for having his prayers answered.

He scrambled for the stairwell as electric bolts splashed around him. One struck his left arm, causing his ATD to begin heating up. The quantum singularity was active, venting the energy. While in the launch bay of the dark-energy starship, Adam took three direct hits from Kanan, and yet he lived. He knew he could survive that many. He began counting, noting the grazing blow as half a hit.

Inside the stairwell, Adam made a spur of the moment decision. He headed up instead of down.

Kanan was caught off guard. He’d teleported farther down the stairs and had to adjust. Adam barreled through a door and onto the roof of the building just as Kanan appeared before him.

Instinctively, Adam lifted his arms for protection against the excruciating electric shock he knew was coming. His ATD may be able to absorb the energy, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a bitch.

But no shock was forthcoming.

Adam squinted around his arms, seeing Kanan hovering about six feet away. What was he waiting for?

That’s when Adam realized he still had the container in his hands, using it for cover. The Formation parts must be delicate, or at least susceptible to electric shock. Kanan didn’t want to damage or destroy any of the parts.

Adam backed away.

You cannot escape, Adam Cain. Place the container on the floor, and I will allow you to live.

“Is that because you need all the parts to make your superweapon work?”

That may be so, but I will acquire the case. Does your life not have value?

“It’s because it does that I don’t trust you. Human—biologic life—means nothing to you. You cannot relate to my desire to live; you’re only promising not to kill me because that’s what you think I want to hear.”

That’s when Adam felt the sensation of suffocating again, as he had on Mt. Zocor, just as Panur activated his interphase beam. But this was different, stronger. Kanan’s metal body began to vibrate, not a lot, but enough that Adam noticed.

He looked around the rooftop frantically, seeing if Panur was there—and alive. Adam smirked. Of course, Panur would be alive, even as Mt. Zocor evaporated. The damn mutant’s immortal. But could he have survived the dark matter event and followed Adam here? And if so, were the others alive, as well?

Adam didn’t take the time to consider any more of the possibilities. Kanan was in some kind of strong suspension field; however, the service module could still move and fire deadly electric bolts. He just couldn’t teleport. Now, it was time for Adam to find out how fast an ancient service module could fly.

Adam spun around and ran for the edge of the roof. He stumbled as he took a solid electric shot to the back, but quickly regained his balance. Without hesitation, Adam dove off the top of the twenty-story building, performing a perfect swan dive in the process.

Chapter 21

At the time, it seemed like a good idea to jump off the roof; however, Adam was having second thoughts at the moment.

Conjuring up a dense cloud of air to ride on was possible; he’d done it several times before. However, it took a lot of concentration. And at the moment, he was preoccupied, falling as he was toward the ground like a rock, and with only a couple of seconds to make whatever was going to happen happen.

He closed his eyes, hoping that that would help his concentration. All it did was make him more paranoid. The air was rushing past his ears, reminding him of where he was. He tried to let out a breath to calm himself, but that was virtually impossible. All he wanted to do was scream.

He still held the container for the Formation in one hand, thinking that he needed to create a static electricity ball in the other. But that wasn’t right. He wasn’t trying to make a ball, but a containment field, something to trap and compress the air into a near-solid form. For that, all he needed was his mind.

The image began to form in his head, that of a flying carpet of air. He felt his ATD warming up, even more than before. Something was happening, but would it happen in time?

He already felt air rushing across his face and body, the oversized Gracilian uniform flopping in the wind. Then the force became stronger. And then the sound of the rushing wind stopped. His eyes were still closed; now, he risked opening them, knowing he had to be only feet from the ground.

He was, but he was also floating, facing down into a swirling mass of semi-translucent air, like a diaphanous cloud swirling only inches from his face.

He was lying on his stomach on the cushion. That changed once he realized he’d done it, and that he was alive. He stood up, feeling his legs being wrapped in the tingling mass of air. It gripped him, giving his body stability.

He let out a whoop. He was ready to rock!

And then Kanan swooped down next to him and fired another electric bolt from only a few feet away.

The pain shook him from his reverie. By his count, that was two-and-a-half bolts. He could handle three, but he wasn’t sure about three-and-a-half.

With a mental command, the cushion of compressed air shot into the sky. Adam wasn’t worried about falling off; the cushion held him firmly in its grip. He could sense this was a different kind of platform, stronger, more under his control. Again, he credited Arieel’s new ATD. This was incredible. He truly did feel like Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

And that was just what he had to do to keep Kanan from lighting off another energy bolt his way.

He reached the top of the twenty-story building in a fraction of the time it took him to fall from it. He glanced down. Although Kanan was small, the few tentacles he had dangling from his body made him visible to Adam’s enhanced eyesight. He was following, and at a pretty good clip.

Adam banked over hard to the left and shot out over the top of the vault building. This part of the city—he didn’t know the name—was a forest of such structures, with many twice or three times as tall. It became a mad dash between the towers, with Adam occasionally turning to see if Kanan was still behind him. The orb was hard to see unless he lit off an energy bolt, which he frequently did. No longer did Kanan seemed concerned about the box Adam was carrying. All he wanted to do was stop the Human.

Adam could still feel the interference in Kanan’s mind when he tried to make contact, not to have a conversation, but rather to check in on his status. The field was more widespread and not targeted. It had to be coming from a Lerpiniere Pod, and that could only come from the team—at least Lila and possibly Panur. But how did they manage to stay up with Kanan’s DEmon?

Having gained confidence that he could walk and chew gum at the same time, Adam attempted to make contact with Panur. He was staying ahead of Kanan, but barely. One more hit from the energy bolts might be enough to expand the singularity’s event horizon beyond the point of no return. Adam had to do something and quickly.

Panur, are you there? Adam cried out in his mind.

Adam! It is so good to hear your thoughts.

Where are you?

On Gracilia, or more precisely, in orbit above Gracilia. We have located Kanan’s ship and have activated an L-Pod. Where are you?

Currently, I’m flying a condensed cloud of air through the skyscrapers of this city with Kanan on my ass. I’ve taken two-and-a-half energy bolts; I don’t think I can take another.

Why are you doing … well, any of that?

Because I have a part of something Kanan calls The Formation. It’s what he came here to get. I have the last piece of the puzzle.

You can’t let him have it.

Like, duh. Why do you think I’m riding this cushion of air through the skyscrapers of the city trying to keep my ass from getting shot off? Is there anything you can do?

We can take the shuttle down, run interference for you.

We? The others?

We’re all fine. We got off the planet before the dark matter event.

Adam felt a wave of relief sweep over him.

Then an energy bolt struck the side of a building only a few feet from his head, bringing him back to the moment. He dove for the surface before shooting through the open edifice of what had once been an alien shopping mall. The layout was familiar, built on four levels with a lot of room to maneuver. Storefronts were exploding around him, proving that Kanan did have more of a capacity for shooting off bolts than Adam had to absorb them. The damn service module didn’t even need to recharge.

A shaft of light appeared in front of him, coming from a skylight in the ceiling of the mall. The glass had long since broken out, giving him an exit. He angled the cushion up and broke back into the open air without slowing down. He angled back over the top of the building before climbing high and heading for the tallest building he could see. It was a monster, easily a hundred stories tall.

Adam, are you still there?

I’m here, just got a little distracted. You know what, I don’t think I can keep this up long enough for you to get here. I have an idea. I’ll let you know if it works.

He zigged and zagged between a couple of tall buildings just to make it look convincing, before whipping back around until he made almost a complete loop around a tower. Kanan moved in the opposite direction to cut him off. Adam saw the service module a split second before the energy bolt lashed out, twisting the cushion of air up until he made a complete loop.

Unfortunately, it was a second too late. A bolt scraped across Adam’s back, causing his ATD to screech and turn red hot. The pain was excruciating, but luckily, the hit was off by a few degrees. Adam would count that as a half-hit.

But it gave Adam the excuse he was looking for. With a flourish, he fumbled with the container, reaching out with both hands in a feeble attempt to hold on. He lost control, and the dark brown box tumbled toward the ground forty stories below

Kanan saw Adam lose control and shot out after the falling box. In an impressive display of in-air acrobatics, the two dangling appendages jutting out from Kanan’s orb caught the box and pressed it against the shell of the service module, holding it secure.

Adam spun his cushion around and looked down.

Although Adam no longer had a mental link with the service module, he got the impression the thing would have flipped him the bird in a gesture of victory—if he knew what flipping the bird meant.

Kanan shot off, heading back to the vault building undoubtedly to gather up the other containers for The Formation.

Adam hovered in mid-air, wondering what to do next. He wasn’t about to go after Kanan—his quota of energy bolts had to be redlining—and so far, Panur hadn’t left orbit to come looking for him.

He decided to fly off into the desert, looking for a landmark in which to guide Panur to a rescue.

Kanan has just lifted off, Panur said on their mental link several minutes later. He knows I am here, and now that he has what he came for, he’s leaving. Lila and I need to see this vault you speak of. Maybe there’s a clue as to what the Formation is. We will be down to pick you up in five minutes.

Chapter 22

The Ed Gibson, Jr. landed in the desert right on time. By then, Adam was back on solid ground, his face beet red from the windburn he’d suffered while running from Kanan. The Gracilian sun had just set, and it was cold. A pink glow filled the sky.

As soon as the hatch opened, Sherri, Riyad and Copernicus streamed out to smother him with hugs, fist bumps and the occasional kiss.

Adam was just as glad to see them. They had each thought the other was dead, making the reunion especially satisfying.

“How, how did you follow me?” Adam asked.

Copernicus laughed. “Well, it seems the Ed Gibson finally gave out, just as we were leaving the Liave system. We were able to salvage one of the DEmons at that point, one that had its weapons damaged, but the drive was in good shape. We were only an hour or so behind you on the way here.” He turned and waved a hand at the Ed Gibson, Jr. “Eddie boy fit fine in the launch bay of the DEmon, so daddy’s legacy shall live on, but Junior has some pretty big shoes to fill.”

“Here’s to the Ed Gibson,” Adam announced.

Panur and Lila appeared from the shuttle a couple of minutes later.

Lila hugged her father. “I knew you would survive; you always do.”

Adam smirked. “It was touch and go there for a while.”

“Come, everyone,” Panur prompted. “There’s no time to linger. We need to get to the vault so we can learn more about this superweapon—or whatever it is—this Formation Kanan was so adamant to acquire. Our troubles are not yet over, not by a long shot.”

Adam stepped up to the short mutant and put a hand on his thin shoulder. “Perhaps this can help with your research.” Adam reached into a pocket of the baggy Gracilian uniform and pulled out a dollar-sized crystal disk. He handed it to Panur.

“What is this?”

“It’s part of the Formation.”

“It is? How did you get it?”

“I took it from the case while Kanan was chasing me. But don’t get too excited. There were about a dozen other disks in there. There are a total of eight boxes, and I only took one disk.”

“Will that make a difference?”

Adam shrugged. “Kanan did say he needed all the parts to make it work. I don’t know if there were any spares. Even so, I thought you and Lila could take a look at this thing and figure out what it is.”

Panur turned the disk over in his hands before holding it up to the pink sky. The object was translucent.

“Interesting. It will be a challenge to learn its secrets.”

“In the meantime, let’s hope that Kanan doesn’t discover I took the disk, at least not for a couple of books. First, let him try to put the Formation together and then blow a fuse when it doesn’t work. It would serve him right.”

Riyad stepped up to Adam and flashed his trademark white smile. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Cain, teasing an ancient Aris service module like that. You know it’s just going to piss him off.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.”

Riyad laughed. He put an arm around Adam’s shoulder, and the two men began the walk back to the Ed Gibson, Jr. “Now, what say we make like a tree and get outta here. There’s a lot of clean up to do in the Zone. And Marshal Adam Cain is just the man to do it.”

“With a little help from his trusty sidekick, Riyad Tarazi.”

“Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with that!”

The End

Next Up — Universal Law

Pre-Order Today

The Adam Cain Saga #6

Coming May 23, 2020

Author’s Notes

Another one bites the dust!

Thanks so much for reading

Dark Energy

Book #5

The Adam Cain Saga.

Next up is

Universal Law

Five books in the Adam Cain Saga already. Can you believe it? Sometimes I even impress myself! Next up for Adam and Co. is Universal Law, which is now available for pre-order and releasing on May 23, 2020.

* * *

I was thinking about how two hundred years from now, while students are sitting in their university class studying the classic works of the author T.R. Harris, someone might ask what is this COVID-19 crisis he speaks about in his Author Notes? The instructor, being intimately knowledgeable about the life and times of the Master, will have a ready answer.

Hopefully, he’ll say is was an event that upset most of the world for a few months way back in 2020. For a time, it caused quite a scare, believing a deadly pandemic would soon kill millions and ravage economies around the world. Fortunately, a vaccine was found in record time and COVID-19 became nothing more serious than the seasonal flu.

In the meantime, here we sit and wait.

Fortunately, for me, not much has changed in my life. I’m a hermit anyway. I have to be to do my job. And with a goal to write twelve Adam Cain novels over twelve months, I need the solitude. Of course, I didn’t know the world would join me in my self-imposed lockdown.

Anyway, I hope all of you are tolerating the times as best you can. This will all be over soon.

And now for more updates.

I’m still intend to have all my books in paperback by the end of the year, and hopefully, as many in audiobook form as possible as well. On the audiobook front, I have been selling each of the new Adam Cain books to Tantor Media. The first one—The Dead Worlds—is scheduled for release in the middle of June. But don’t hold me to that. Like everything else, that date could be subject to change. In the meantime, Tantor has had the last three REV books for a while now. They should be hitting soon, although I don’t have a date. I’ll update you in both my emails and on my Facebook fan page.

And speaking of that, I would like to encourage all of you to join my email list as well as my Facebook Fan Group. Since most of us will be spending more time with our online friends and family, this will be a great way to stay in touch. Social distancing is the big thing these days. The internet is a great way to soften the blow of isolation.

* * *

Okay, that’s it for now. Be looking for the next Adam Cain book coming out in May, and every month after that, along with all the exciting new stories I have lined up.

And, please, don’t lose faith. Everything that’s happening is only temporary.

T.R. Harris

April 2020

Three Free Books

No kidding. 3 FREE BOOKS, simply for signing up for my Fan Email List.

Just fill out the Subscribe form here.

Facebook Group

Also, I’m asking you to join my exclusive, secret,

Super Fan Facebook Group appropriately called

Fans of T.R. Harris and

The Human Chronicles Saga

Just click on the link below, and you—yes, YOU—may become a character in one of my books. You may not last long, and you may end up being the villain, but at least you can point to your name in one of my books – and live forever! Maybe. If I decide to use your name. It’s at my discretion.

trharrisfb.com

Email & Website

Email:

bytrharris@hotmail.com

Website:

bytrharris.com

Novels by T.R. Harris

The Adam Cain Saga

The Dead Worlds

Empires

Battle Plan

Galactic Vortex

Dark Energy

Universal Law (coming May 2020)

The Human Chronicles

The Fringe Worlds

Alien Assassin

The War of Pawns

The Tactics of Revenge

The Legend of Earth

Cain’s Crusaders

The Apex Predator

A Galaxy to Conquer

The Masters of War

Prelude to War

The Unreachable Stars

When Earth Reigned Supreme

A Clash of Aliens

Battlelines

The Copernicus Deception

Scorched Earth

Alien Games

The Cain Legacy

The Andromeda Mission

Last Species Standing

Invasion Force

Force of Gravity

Mission Critical

The Lost Universe

The Immortal War

Destroyer of Worlds

Phantoms

Terminus Rising

The Last Aris

The Human Chronicles Box Set Series

Box Set #1 – Books 1-5 in the series

Box Set #2 – Books 6-10 in the series

Box Set #3 – Books 11-15 in the series

Box Set #4 – Books 16-20 in the series

Box Set #5—Books 21-25 in the series

REV Warriors Series

Rev

REV: Renegades

REV: Rebirth

REV: Revolution

REV: Retribution

REV: Revelations (coming soon)

REV Warriors Box Set #1 – Books 1-3 in the series

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

The Enclaves of Sylox

Treasure of the Galactic Lights

The Drone Wars Series

Day of the Drone

In collaboration with Co-Author George Wier…

The Liberation Series

Captains Malicious

Available exclusively on Amazon.com and FREE to members of Kindle Unlimited.