Elementis 1: The Heir to the Stone (2 page)

Blackfire was an extract of energy taken from the edges of a black hole. Not only a suicidal mission for the hole minors with a 97 percent death rate, but it was also the most valuable resource any man with enough spare trade could acquire. One cube of the stuff, the size of a normal fist could easily power the average planet for around a year if its rotational period fell between 290 and 400 days; population and planet size dependent of course.

The only problem in handling blackfire was that each cubes density was equal to that of a large boulder. If there were a hundred cubes to move, Ell would have been there all day, whereas Jonas was the only spider that anyone wanted on their crew when looting a shipment of black; he lifted a box of the stuff like it was just another crate of blaster parts. Although he was treated like it, Jonas had become an invaluable ship-spider.

A clunking sound beneath Ell yielded a satisfying grunt as he activated the ships communications with a press of a button. "She's all yours boys," Ell informed them with a lizardous voice.

"Commencing cut-through," Jonas said back.

Ell shot his ugly tone back down into the vacuum chamber. "Hurry it up! And if you don't find the blackfire down there you're both working for free today!"

"Thanks Ell, we can always count on you," said Jonas, as he twisted open a lock to a vault-door on the chamber floor.

Ell's voice came back through the speakers. "There's no friends amongst us spiders, Jonas," he said, sounding even worse through the radio than he did when speaking face to face.

Jonas opened the iron vault door. "Don't pay any attention, Hok, he doesn't mean it,"

Hok grinned with old bone coloured teeth, and pulled a circular cutting machine down from the ceiling and through the vault hole, he stamped down on its metal lid to secure it to the outer surface of the cargo-ship.

"No, he means it," Hok said, pressing a couple of buttons as a sweeping laser sound cut through the cargo-ship's surface. He waited for the control light to turn green and pressed another button, lifting the machine up from the floor with a thick circle of hull stuck to the magnet underneath.

"But he's your brother," Jonas said.

"Yeah that's what he says, just before he reminds me that we're not friends," Hok said, smiling while tightening his blaster sling. His wonky-toothed smile disappeared with him as he lowered down into the freshly cut hole.

Jonas rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a wry smile. All he'd ever wanted was a family, a mother who understood his every thought and gave him sympathy whenever he was hurt in a fight or in trouble with the law. He hoped that wherever his parents were, if they were still alive, that they were kind, good people, better than he had turned out. He always hoped that he had somehow been mistakenly separated from them by a cruel error at a poorly run medical unit in whichever system his home planet happened to rotate. He certainly wasn't from Rilk, the Rilkers had rock-like skin, nothing like his own. Some of the spiders called him "humanoid" as if it was a disease. It confused him. How could he be insulted being called what he was? The stupidity of some beings was lost on him. He would never understand the small minds that ridiculed; it was always best to keep away from them. Even when it had somehow come to be that most of the small-minded were found in the higher ranks of the spiders and in a position to make his life more comfortable. He would rather struggle on than sink to their level of thinking and be rewarded by people he didn't care for.

Jonas had of course met plenty of humanoids similar to himself, but none that exactly matched his skin type and body structure closely enough to say that their race was related. It had been a long while since Jonas had really given any thought to a family he might have out there. He'd all but given up thinking that one day his blood mother and father would walk into his home city of Plythra on Rilk, and take him to his home where they would show him the love a son needs to become a man. But here were these two brothers to remind him, unaware of the special bond they held, fighting with each other at every chance they had. What he wouldn't give to have that bond in his life, his own blood to share his time and thoughts with, someone that he could be closer to than any other. Jonas's thoughtful smile turned to a frown. That was not how it was meant to be for the boy, he had been alone mostly his whole life and he was used to the odd feeling of having no one around to care for him. He had his moments when he wished it was different, but his life had even reached the point where he couldn't imagine anything but being alone; it was just the way it was. He had accepted that by now.

Jonas followed Hok inside, dropping down into the pitch-black warehouse. The blueprints and data which Ell had studied for the cargo-ship had told them that this was where they would find the main warehouse and perhaps as much as twenty units of blackfire stored amongst the thousands of neatly shelved metal boxes.

Hok had already disappeared somewhere inside the warehouse to start searching. The lad didn't want to give his brother another excuse for being his usual argumentative self.

Jonas let his eyes adjust to the darkness before turning his torchlight to the labels on the boxes in front of him. He moved his torchlight from one package to the next. The freighters were used to spider break-ins from time to time, going to some lengths to disguise their cargo with coded labels but always left to wonder how the ship-spiders managed to figure out the constantly changing codes. Every man has his price, from a ships captain to the warehouse boys. It wasn't all that hard to get the codes for precious cargo with the resources the spiders had under their control. A little threat here and a little threat there from one of the more persuasive of the crew and someone would always cave.

Jonas called out, "Any luck over there?" he said, loud enough for Hok to hear and quiet enough not to attract any unwanted attention. He waited for a response—none came. "Hok?" he called again. The air was silent.

Jonas flicked off his torch and crept to the end of the row he was searching. Peering around the corner into the darkness of the storage room he couldn't see Hok's torchlight. He saw only a small red light, hovering in mid air. Then another and another, and twenty or so more red lights turned on. Jonas shone his torch towards them, and catching the sight of white armoured legs he swiftly pulled his torch down, stepping back to hide.

"Oh shit," he said quietly to himself, taking a deep breath and freezing where he stood.

He heard Hok begging. Jonas peered back round. Hok's faintly lit frame was standing in front of a squadron of Red-Badge organoids. Each one of the law keepers now aimed their guns at Hok with white laser sights spreading all over the boys body, lighting him up like a garden statue in the night.

"Wait! Please!" Hok urged, his voice trembling with innocence as he tried to calm the gunmen in the darkness.

Jonas watched on through the dim light in the hope that the Red-Badges would arrest Hok, then maybe he and Ell could at least rescue the boy from the prison hold and forget all about this job. It wasn't worth getting killed over.

Jonas activated his communication sleeve, keeping his eyes fixed on Hok. "Ell, get down here. RBs have your brother," he whispered into his arm.

As soon as Hok finished pleading with the RB officers, their un-emotive programming unleashed a show of rapid lasers as Hok's body spasmed in the flashing lights of more than twenty firing guns. He fell to the ground, the laser sights followed him down. His face was bloodied, lying still against the metal floor, a stiff look of pain etched across his rough wooden face.

Back onboard the cruiser, Ell had heard the panic in Jonas's voice followed by the shots of the firing squad. "Sounds like it's time to leave!" Ell said back to Jonas. "Good luck humanoid!" he taunted with a cackle, wasting no time in activating the vacuum chamber controls from the cockpit to seal both ships and get out of there.

Jonas looked up to the ceiling. His escape hole resealed with a clunk. The lights of the warehouse roof flashed on. Jonas drew his blaster, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and burst into the open, spraying laser fire into the semi-organic skin of the Red-Badges. Some fell to the ground, others returned fire missing their moving target. Jonas ploughed into the middle of the RBs, pulling two at a time up into the air and smashing them into the ground. He twisted and ripped off metal limbs, fracturing their helmets with vicious punches before the RBs could react to the attack. More and more officers ran to the aid of the squadron as Jonas knocked them away with swinging fists and back hand lashes. Two energy-straps wrapped around Jonas's arms, he felt the buzz of the glowing energy warm against his skin. Two more straps restrained the boys legs. He struggled on until he realised he couldn't break free from the energy or the hold of the five RBs at each end of the straps. He struggled down to a calm acceptance that he had been captured.

The Red-Badge captain walked onto the deck to see the mess of officers strewn across the floor. He came up close to Jonas. "Take him to Kroyto!" he said with rigid lip movements that matched the robotic edges of his face. "He won't enjoy it—one little bit!" he said.

Jonas held his gaze into the fabricated sheen of the captains eyes. He had heard about the inmates of the prisons on planet Kroyto, and from the stories captured spiders had told him, the captain was right; he wouldn't enjoy it, not one little bit.

Chapter III

Wild Minds

Morning arose and Prince Calyx stood alone on top of a palace tower, gazing out across the city of Enterra. The palace was a grand building topped with spires, towers and small dome roofs, but the tower on which Calyx stood was always his chosen spot to watch the city awake in the morning.

The outer stone walls of the palace were decorated with panes of impressive stained-glass windows. The gentle gush of a freshwater river ran beneath the lower foundations of the palace, flowing right through the centre of Enterra and on to the unseeable ocean's edge, way beyond the city's walls. Floating courtyards bridged across the river-banks, connecting the palace to the streets and sky high buildings in the city beyond.

Calyx stood peacefully, watching speeding transporters taking Cytherean Guard to their daily posts as the morning watch took over from the night guards. He ran his fingers across the slight protrusion of his blue birthmark upon his jaw. Somehow it gave him comfort with the thought that this is what his mother had given him before she had died. The blue scar was as clear as the day of his birth and apart from his fine woven clothes, his silver head-band and the golden crescents of the energy-star that he wore on his left wrist; Calyx looked just like his twin brother.

Being alone with his thoughts in the mornings gave Calyx the only time he ever had to himself. The only time he ever had to think about just himself and nothing else. His life was far from easy, being constantly pushed to his mental and physical limits without too much thought from anyone about his own needs and well-being. The king was to hand down the Elementis to him in just three years time, when he reached his eighteenth year and inherited all of the power of his father. Until then, every single day was dedicated to prepare him for only that moment. He trained in solitude each day with Witakker and each time that he reached a level of theory advanced enough to progress he was trained in a new area of combat with the kings four protectors; Hawk, Wingrise, Spirit and Tempo. Calyx, of course had his own four protectors. The bond the five of them had built grew with every meeting, but Calyx rarely got to see them. The protectors trained as hard as the prince himself, and were often flown off to Obitrum for military exercise months at a time. And although he enjoyed the company of the kings protectors, Calyx had begged his father to let him join the Junior Guard and his own protectors at the Guard Academy on Obitrum too many times to remember. The king would never allow it. Calyx was far too precious to leave the palace, let alone to leave the planet. The pressure that came with his training left no time for any of life's luxuries or enjoyments and so a moment of self-reflection in the morning was as good as it got for the prince. Reflection helped him focus on his own importance. He knew that the people depended on him to protect them once his father stood down from his duties. The thought of ruling them was the only thing that got him through each day. He knew how much they needed him.

The first born prince closed his eyes in the serenity of the morning warmth as Valo edged up above the horizon illuminating a dying nights sky, and warming Calyx's face. Shades of pink and orange faded up into a blue and black twilight. The rising heat of Valo filled the air of the city with particles which danced in the light of a shifting breeze as if a storm of dust blew between the shadows of the buildings. Four moons of differing phased crescents hung in the sky like stepping-stones leading up to the heavens. Calyx opened his eyes back to the world. He thought to himself that no matter how many planets he would visit in his lifetime, the rising of Valo on their home planet of Aquilla would surely never have a rival.

His morning peace was disturbed by footsteps. Only one person would come to break his morning thoughts. King Uly walked out onto the tower roof. Calyx did not look around nor greet his father. At times the very presence of him made his heart sink to his stomach. Calyx knew that Uly had only come to give him a lecture, or to put him down in some unsubtle way which he thought would serve only to make his son stronger and somehow more impervious to war. Uly took a place by his son's side, enjoying the view unfold before him.

"It's a beautiful world we live in," the king said, giving a glance across to his sons light-absorbed face.

"Sometimes I think so," said Calyx, locking his eyes on the morning mist.

"You don't think it's worth fighting for?" Uly asked.

"I am told what to think. You know that Father," Calyx said.

The king was calm and unmoved by the sharpness of his sons response. Uly opened his mouth to give Calyx a few home truths. He held back. Instead he took in a breath of air and kept his thoughts inside.