Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Epilogue

Also By Ben Winston

About the Author

About the Publisher

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“H
ey Williams! I heard they named you Valedictorian because you’re the only virgin left in our grade!”

Ian flipped off the football player amid the laughter from the good-natured ribbing.

“Seriously guys! Here’s to Ian Williams!” The semi-drunk teen raised a beer bottle in the direction of Ian. “Without him, most of us wouldn’t have made it through school. Thanks Williams!”

Ian smiled and nodded to the group of football players and cheerleaders as they toasted him. “Just remember to keep studying when you get to UCLA Monty, and you’ll do just fine. Now, I gotta piss, be right back.” Ian set his soda down, stood, and walked out of the little area the small ‘graduation’ party was taking place in.

He hadn’t really wanted to come to this party, but the guys on the team insisted. He had tutored most of them and helped them through the academic rough spots of high school most jocks appear to have. The result being that over the hundreds of hours of talking and helping the guys, they had struck up a friendship with ‘the nerd’.

‘Nerd’ was a moniker that no one called Ian anymore. The ‘Jocks’ wouldn’t allow it. Earlier today, at a final pep-rally, Ian had been called down and given a school football jersey that had his name printed on the back, and officially thanked by the coaches and the principal.

As Ian walked, he kept tripping over (sometimes literally) couples in various stages of undress that had sneaked away from the party. This was the part of coming to these things that Ian hated the most. The only person he would consider asking to come with him would have flatly refused.

As he walked, his thoughts turned to the beautiful, blond goddess he had been dreaming about for the last... well, almost ten years now. Jenny Laskar was Ian’s best friend. They took most of the same classes, and had most of the same interests. They’d known each other since second grade, and he’d loved her almost the entire time. Ian could talk to her about anything... except how he felt about her.

Ian was terrified of losing her. If he confessed his love for the girl, and she didn’t think of him that way, it would ruin their long friendship.

Although he hadn't known her as long, Cindy Swift, another friend of his and Jenny’s, was running a close second to Jenny, and the three spent a lot of time together.

Looking around, Ian realized he couldn’t see anyone anymore, so he stopped to do his business. While he relieved himself, his thoughts returned to Jenny and Cindy, and what to do about his problem.

Ian shook his head to dispel the thoughts that threatened to get him aroused. He really didn't need the guys to see him walk back to the party like that.

He shook it off, and tucked himself back into his pants to return to the party. After a few minutes of walking, Ian was starting to feel a little nervous. He couldn’t even hear the music from the party, and he knew he couldn’t have walked that far away. He stopped to listen carefully. All he could hear were the normal sounds of the night; that is, the nights that high school seniors were not out here in the hills drinking.

He sat down on a rock to try to figure out what to do. Park Rangers and emergency personnel always say that if you’re lost, just stay where you are, if you can, and wait. Someone will eventually find you. ‘...or what’s left of your decomposing body,’ Ian thought grimly.

Briefly, he remembered his family, and the many camping trips they had gone on. He still missed them, and all the fun they had together. Even though his father had been a lawyer, he still made time for his family. Initially, he had felt guilty for surviving the car accident that had killed both his parents, and had left him virtually untouched.

A year and a half before, a gravel truck had lost its brakes and slammed into them, crushing the front half of the SUV he and his parents had been riding in. The truck looked like it had been almost cut in half – the front was crushed almost flat, while the area behind the front seats was left intact. Ian broke his arm, and his parents lost their lives.

He was sitting in a small gully between two hills. He decided to climb the taller of these to see if he could locate the highway and navigate off that.

As Ian was nearing the top of the small hill, he felt a few strong gusts of wind. It really gave him the willies because it was a clear night and there had been no wind at all.

Finally, he climbed up a few more feet, turned and stepped between two large boulders into a small clearing. Sitting on a rock in the clearing was a person. In the dark, Ian thought it was a man wrapped in a blanket.

“Excuse me, sir? Are you all right?” Ian asked, as he slowly walked forward with his hands held palm down and away from his body.

“Yes, I am fine. I could hear you climbing up here, so I waited for you,” the man said cheerfully.

“Uh, why would you wait for me? Do we know each other?” Ian asked hesitantly. He was starting to get a really bad feeling about this.

“Not exactly; you see, you do not know me, but I know a great deal about you, Mr. Ian Williams. I have been waiting a very long time to meet you; a very long time indeed.”

The man had still not moved from the rock he was sitting on, but Ian was slowly edging his way back to the rocks he passed when he got here. “Uh, why would you want to talk to me? I’m nobody special.” The old man was starting to really creep Ian out; how had he known his name? If he could just find those two big honkin’ rocks, he could run back into the night. Then this old freak wouldn’t be able to find him.

“I will not harm you, Mr. Williams. I have been waiting to speak to you about something very important. Something I think you will want to hear.”

Where were those damn rocks? “Uh, I’m sure that might be the case, sir, but I think perhaps if this is on the level, you can just come to the house and tell me this in front of my Guardian,” Ian replied, ‘and maybe a couple of policemen,’ Ian added to himself.

The old man sighed heavily as he stood. “Well, this is not going at all as well as I thought it would. Mr. Williams, would you please have a seat.”

Ian’s mind almost came to a complete stop as the night sky was replaced by a light blue ceiling, and the surrounding rocks and outdoor nighttime scenery were replaced by walls of a padded looking, off-white vinyl. Along the walls were couches that almost resembled bench seating. The room was very dimly lit, but it was slowly getting brighter.

For the first time, Ian got a look at the other man. He was wearing a robe and looked like a stocky, clean-shaven, Alec Guinness from Star Wars. Ian almost laughed, “If Yoda walks through one of these doors, I’m gonna shit myself.”

The old man did laugh, “No, Master Yoda will not be walking through one of these doors. However, the rest of what I have to tell you might be as equally hard for you to accept. If you will stay and listen, every word I tell you will be the truth.” The old man gestured to one of the seats, mutely asking Ian to sit once again. Ian ignored the gesture.

“This is just way too damn weird. Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to be getting home soon. I have a one o’clock curfew, and I really don’t want my Guardian to worry. Please, can you help me get home?” Ian asked. He was obviously imagining all this; maybe he slipped on a rock and hit his head. That explanation sure made more sense than walls that just appeared.

“You are on a shuttle craft that is currently hovering outside your house. You can go in at any time, but I really would appreciate it if you would listen to what I have to tell you. It will not take that long, and I can promise, your guardian will not be worried.”

“Look, you seem like a nice, harmless old man, and while I don’t really know how you got me here, I do appreciate the ride. I have to go in there and explain to my guardian what happened and then get her to give me a ride out to where the party was so I can get my car. She’s not going to be very happy with me. So unless you can give me a hell of a good reason not to go inside to face the music with her, I’m outta here,” Ian said.

“Roughly four thousand of your years ago, a starship was involved in a great battle and crashed on the far side of your moon. The crew that survived the attack, and the crash, made it to this planet and bred with the native population in an effort to keep their race alive. Now, a good portion of the population of this planet has one of those crew members as an ancestor, including you. Your ancestor was my Commander. You would know him as Zeus.”

Ian chuckled nervously, “You’re not only telling me the Greek Gods existed, but that they were aliens? Okay if that’s what you want to believe, but what does that have to do with me?”

Instead of answering, another image appeared in the room; this time it was an image that looked a lot like Ian. At first Ian thought it was an image of himself, but small, subtle differences made him see it wasn’t. This man was slightly taller, and had more body mass. He also had a slight graying of the hair at his temples, and the beginnings of worry lines on his face.

“He looks a lot like me. Who is he?” Ian asked as he slowly sat down.

“He should look a lot like you, for you are the same person – genetically anyway. This is your far distant ancestor, Zeus, of the House of Chronos, bond-mate of Hera and Commander of the Federated Starship Olympus. You are almost genetically identical to my commander, and because of that, you are the only person that can take command of my ship.”

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L
et me get this straight; the Greek Gods were not only real, they were actually aliens, and I’m a descendant of Zeus, which makes me the captain of some starship?” Ian asked, getting tired of the game the old man was playing. “However, you say it’s your ship, and you talk about all this like you’ve lived it. You said yourself it was four thousand years ago. I mean, yes, you are older, but you sure don’t look that old.”

From the look on the old man’s face, Ian got the impression he was being laughed at. “No, I do not imagine I do. Tell me, have you ever seen the TV show Andromeda?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s one of my favorites,” Ian answered as the image of the ‘older Ian’ faded from view.

“Do you remember the character played by Lexa Doig?”

“She played the ship, or rather the artificial intelligence of the ship. She was a hologram on the earlier episodes, but moved into an android body later on. What’s that got to do with this?” Ian asked.

“Quite a bit actually. You see, I am a hologram. I am the artificial intelligence construct resident on board the Olympus. I have been sitting on the moon making repairs and waiting for the original blood lines to reassert themselves so I could get my crew back,” the old man explained.

So, the old man thought he was a hologram. Obviously someone hasn’t taken their medications this evening. Still, he seemed harmless enough; maybe if Ian humored him, he could get him someplace that could get the old guy back to the hospital.

“Uh, okay, I can see how that can be true. So what do we do now? I have to finish high school, and then I’ll have to get permission from Doctor Hayes...”