The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion (10 page)

The
Manica-Band put up a constant defense shield that would actively
deflect matter moving at whatever speed the wearer designated
depending on the situation or how paranoid the wearer
is
–
at
least that
’
s what it did at first. Jonathan had modified the thing so
many times to do hundreds of other functions that there
wasn
’
t
much it couldn
’
t do. He became a sort of icon, appearing at functions
and events with the cool air of a man worried about nothing. The
Manica-Band put his worries to rest. Powered by oxygen, the band
could provide the user with five minutes of oxygen where none was
present. After that, it would shut down and the user would be
susceptible to the elements once more. It was a communicator, a
repair and medical kit, a scanner, and it could even provide a
small atmosphere within its generated field. It had saved his life
in hundreds of ways at times when he might not have even noticed
that his life was in danger.

Jonathan shook himself to consciousness. He tried to turn
the terminal back on, but it wouldn
’
t. A thin layer of frost
coated the surface of everything as the moisture began to freeze.
It would evaporate once the life-support stopped providing oxygen
and shut down. He knew how to turn the computer on, but he was too
fatigued from the endless trauma to do so. The air quality was
getting worse, and the band could only filter out the same grade of
oxygen that it took in.

His
dreams began blurring with reality in a horribly hallucinatory way.
He was sitting in the pilot
’
s chair of the newly
completed Bridge, congratulating himself and his colleagues on a
job well done as he surveyed the pristine walls and crisp window
overhead. He blinked to see the stark emptiness of the Bridge in
the present. Some of the terminals were blown out and a few of the
seats had come loose.

An
icy mist slowly drifted through the Bridge. Jonathan reached out
and turned his hand to see the specks of dusty ice clinging to his
warmth before they shivered and melted. He dropped his hand and saw
the busted window. The globular planet looked enormous, filling the
whole of the window
’
s view. He could see the hundreds of continents
beneath the steadily roaming cloud-cover across its surface. There
were mountain ranges, grasslands, forests, rivers, seas, tundras,
deserts, marshes, swamps, and islands. It had an arctic pole in the
far north, and an antarctic south. It was so much like Earth that,
other than the wealth of land on its surface, it almost could have
been mistaken for Earth itself.

Jonathan noticed something shiny sticking out of the
northern cap of the planet. It was long, curved, and metallic. It
didn
’
t
look natural, but Jonathan couldn
’
t tell before he slipped
into unconsciousness.

10

Jonathan Tabith didn
’
t rouse again until the
warning siren began to wail. His communicator expressed the
computer
’
s emergence:
“
Collision course
immanent.
”
The clouds of the planet seemed as though they were coming
right at him. The ship had slowed automatically before the last of
the power went out, but there was no power to the system, which
meant that there was no automatic landing
engaged.

Nearly dozing once more, an alertness inside him got him to
his senses. The turbulence of the atmosphere
’
s resistance to the ship
hit before he could get to Rawi
’
s terminal. He fell to
the floor which disoriented him. Jonathan clambered to his feet and
found himself staring at the stairway as he clutched the hand-rail
overlooking the first floor. He turned around and activated
Rawi
’
s
terminal.
He was so dizzy it
was like being drunk as he punched his personal identification
number to access the power-grid.
It was all reflex; he didn
’
t consciously do
anything. He moved the ghostly remnants of energy from Secondary
Life-Support to the Bridge.

He
stumbled down to the first floor and collapsed in the
pilot
’
s seat. He activated the terminal and engaged the manual
pilot. He put on the seat-belt built into the seat. The two
armholes for manual flight appeared as the seat lifted. Jonathan
slid his hands into the manual drive, feeling the handle grips at
the end of the arm channels. It occurred to him that without the
Manica-Band this wouldn
’
t be possible. If the atmosphere was anything
like Earth
’
s then there wasn
’
t enough air to breathe
at fifteen miles high. He
’
d have passed out by
now, ending this voyage and ending this planet and everything else
in all directions.

Jonathan pulled the ship up, exiting the
cloud-cover to a rainy afternoon across the grassy plain-scape. The
world below moved by in a blur. The Enigma rocketed past huge,
towering mountains and over long seas. He powered the frontal
thrusters by pulling the grips to slow them down, but they were
still coming in at hundreds of miles-per-hour. He saw what was an
unmistakable city up ahead. It moved out of view as Jonathan
entered another storm-system.

Lighting stripped the side of the Enigma sending power
fluctuations through the ship. There was no shield so the whole
thing was susceptible to the elements. The terminal in front of him
exploded. It would have killed anyone else. Jonathan gritted his
teeth, squinting through the smoke as the globe of resistance
covered him. The smoke cleared and he could see the world passing
below. They had slowed down significantly, but he could take no
further action regarding the ship
’
s
functions.

A
huge tower appeared on the horizon. Jonathan was mesmerized by the
sight. There was an unmistakable castle sitting on top of it,
making the tower look like a long spear. It swept past them and out
of sight. He flew over the land below, and realized that he was
about to crash-land the Enigma. A lake flew by below. The ship
needed to be intact in order for someone to find him, so he
couldn
’
t afford to get stuck in an ocean or a large body of
water.

Once the land appeared again, Jonathan dropped
the Enigma down. His whole body tightened as he lowered the ship to
the ground. It hit, jostling the whole vehicle as it rebounded into
the air. He lifted his arms, shoving the Enigma into the earth
again, forcing it to stay down. The ship continued rocketing
through the land. The Bridge shook violently around him. The
windshield cracked from the top, meeting with the other crack like
a glass lightning bolt. A tall, narrow mountain formation rose
ahead, but it also appeared to have some form of ancient
civilization built into it.

He
swore. Jonathan had hoped he wouldn
’
t crash into a city.
There was nothing left to do but get the Enigma stationary. It was
all happening so fast. Buildings and houses, and architecture
exploded as the Enigma tore through the middle of an ancient
metropolis. The shadow of the mountain ahead blocked out the sun.
Jonathan saw the nose of the Enigma collide with the mountainside,
and that was all before he blacked out.

Six Years Prior to Launch

“
Good evening, Nations, I
’
m Murphy
Lambert!
”
Lambert said charismatically into the microphone after the
crowd in the studio quieted to a tolerable level. Murphy Lambert
hosted the most popular late-night talk show on Earth. He sat in
the interviewer seat wearing a dark blue Brooks Brothers suit with
his short, graying black hair parted and slicked back.
“
If you watch this show and I think you do, you know that
I
’
m a
big fan of money. I can smell it, hear it, or taste it from a mile
away. My first guest tonight is
–
like
myself
–
one of the few capitalist dinosaurs left on the planet;
thirty-two years old, the third wealthiest man alive, and pioneer
of the League of Space Exploration
–
need I go on? Jonathan
Tabith!
”

The
audience erupted again as a young man with black hair and a
neatly-trimmed beard walked across the elaborately decorated stage
of the television studio. The cameras around the room centered on
his face. He had green eyes. He wore brown khaki pants, a matching
blazer over his red button-up shirt, and sandals on his tanned
feet. Jonathan shook Lambert
’
s hand and sat down in
the chair next to his desk. Murphy Lambert waved the audience
down.

“
Wow, thirty-two.
”
Murphy shook his
head.

Jonathan shrugged.
“
I started
early.
”

“
Should I be drinking Pediteptim? Is it good for the immune
system? Is that your secret?
”
Lambert asked.

“
I
would advise against drinking Pediteptim,
”
said Jonathan.
“
All of our lab-rats died of radiation poisoning from the
smallest level of exposure. You
’
re free to try, but your
lawyer can
’
t sue me when it kills you.
”

“
It
’
s just hard to believe you solved the age-old conundrum of
using energy to recycle itself, and you figured it out at age
twenty-two.
”

“
That
’
s what Pediteptim solved. I figured out how to use it,
patented and then manufactured it, but it was the energy in stars
that
’
s
been burning since the beginning of time that did it. I
can
’
t
take all the credit.
”
Jonathan answered.

“
Well, this has clearly changed your life in drastic
ways,
”
said Murphy.
“
Now that
you
’
ve
risen to the top and you
’
re floating on the
assets of Pediteptim, and as the founding father of the League of
Space Exploration, what is there now? You
’
re in your prime, the
world and solar system is your oyster, what
’
s your next destination?
What frontier is left to conquer?
”

“
All
very good questions, and with answers that I told myself I
wouldn
’
t talk about, but,
”
Jonathan gave the camera a sheepish
smirk,
“
I think I
’
m going
to.
”
The audience whooped in the stands for a few
seconds.

“
We
’
re not getting any younger!
”
Murphy prodded.

Jonathan leaned forward and placed his hands on the
desk.
“
It
’
s called Project Enigma. It
’
s a personal project
I
’
ve
been working on for the last seven years. First and foremost, in
two years, the first ever Pluto Space Station will be complete.
Everybody already knows about the Pluto Station, but
here
’
s
why it
’
s being built: we
’
re working on something
that is so potentially dangerous that if anything were to go wrong,
it must be as far away from Earth as possible. Pluto is the closest
distance that the Federal Government of Earth would
allow.
”
He paused.
“We
’
re going to leave the Heliosphere shortly after the station
is complete. And to do that, allow me to introduce the Star Ship
Enigma.
”
Jonathan motioned at the large, amplified screen above the
faces of the audience.

Upon the screen, the schematics of one of the
largest manned vessels anyone had ever seen appeared. Every few
seconds the image changed angles or added lines of data and
information about specific areas of the ship. The vessel was
massive but sleek in design. All of the bases were covered as far
as life-support, structural integrity, and power recycling with
enough juice to keep going for the next three-hundred
years.