Science Fantasy Short Story {Reaper: Chapter Six Part Two}

In the future, where man has traveled to the stars and beyond, there exists guilds with special abilities. Two such guilds are the guild of assassins and the guild of mages. Their laws prevent them from working together. Reaper is the story of two members of the guilds, who ignored their laws and who fight for the greater good.

Genre: Science Fantasy Romance

 

Bomba adjusted the controls on the monitor. The main screen presented a bird’s eye view of the city. She pulled far enough away to see the Mage ship Martha and Hotel Miscavania. She released them, somewhat frustrated. “Why can’t I get a split screen?”

“The power diverted to the nanites you flooded the atmosphere with, isn’t enough to provide an ample signal for a split screen.”

“Martha, strengthen the receiver.”

“That would increase our chance of detection,” Martha said. “As it stands, the signals are optimal.”

“Fine. Help me with his room.” She stood up and walked over to the far wall, where Zion had once sat.

“The bedding has already been modified.”

Bomba grabbed a handle and pulled out a bed. She looked it over. “Good job,” Bomba said. “This looks so comfortable, I may go to sleep.”  She stepped back. “I would like a wall here. So he can have his privacy. He will have to walk past the tank to use the lavatory. But outside of that, he should be comfortable. And we can build a room over there for—”

“The additions you wish to add or against regulations.”

“No one has to know.”

“I am a mage ship, mistress.” An image of Martha appeared next to Bomba. “You named me and I have known you since I came online. But I am programmed to serve the guild first.”

“Yes, you are right.”

“Perhaps your time with Zion has clouded your judgment.”

“No. My mind is crystal clear.” She walked away from the bed. “Build the wall and put in stands for his plants.” She opened the rejuvenation tank. “Is he almost ready?” A bell sounded and the screen switched. Bomba stared at the screen. Zion sat on his bed, reaping the fruit from the bullet tree. The second plant had turned to a green rose with a red stem. “Oh, so Celeste has finally come out.”

“May I add that it is highly suspect that he refers to his plant by name? He has played music for it. Ancient earth music.”

“Well, we all have our hobbies. Besides, he is a Terran. I believe that all chloroman have an affinity for plant life?” She stepped into the tank.

“It is only true for the chloroman who have lived for a century or more.”

“Hmmm.” The tank closed. “Please tell him to be ready to leave in five minutes.” She closed her eyes. She felt her heart slow down, muscles relax and mind drift. When she opened her eyes, she stood in the room on the opposite side of the bed from Zion.

Zion pulled his red shirt down and tucked it carefully in his pants. “That is hardly five minutes.”

She turned around. “I sometimes miscalculate the mind transfer.”

“You can turn around. I was mostly dressed when you popped in.”

She turned back around. “My apologies, I will try to do a better next time.”

“It’s no problem.” He turned to the plant. “It’s time to take a nap now.”

The rose straightened and then curved away.

“I promise that I will take you to a place with plenty of water and sunshine.”

The rose seemed to fold its leaves and then dive into the dirt.

“How did you get it to do that?” Bomba asked.

“Do what?”

“Move when you speak to it.”

Zion shrugged. “Celeste doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to do.” He stuck his hand in the dirt and felt around. “So, you are going with the holograph again?”

“This ensures my safety. After all, there is a bounty on my head.”

He pulled out a green shiny stone, with strings attached. He tied the necklace around his neck. “You don’t have to worry about safety when you are with me.”

Bomba rolled her eyes. “Excuse me, if I don’t feel particularly safe when you walk around weaponless.”

Zion placed his gunmetal wristbands on. “I am never weaponless.” He placed the hat on his head. “And now I am ready.”

“No coat? No cloak?”

His hands disappeared into his black pants pocket. “It’s too hot for that.”

The two of them walked out the front door of the hotel for the first time since their arrival. There was no need to hide their identities. They would be gone before sundown. The two of them walked down the street side by side. It wasn’t often that she experienced a walk in a busy street and in many ways she wasn’t. She could see what her holographic clone could see. Hear also. But there was no feeling of warmth. When she brushed against Zion, she was aware, but it was hardly the quickening of the heart that she normally felt. A wave of shame fell on her. A disgust that he could read her and tell her what she wanted. A strong desire to hit him with a bolt of electricity welled in her heart a desire that was stopped by Zion pulling her into an alley. “What’s—”

Zion’s hand snapped faster than sight could register. It was only the other information her clone gave her that allowed her to realize what was going on. A beam ricocheted off his metallic wristband and pierced a trash can. “Sniper. Quarter of a mile.”

“That’s all well and good. But I am just a hologram. You really don’t need to protect me.”

“He will probably change positions.” Zion reached down for his absent gun. “Right. On the ship.”

“Point them out and I will find them.”

He pointed at a building with a needle-point top. “There is the best place for that shot. But don’t bother going after them.”

“Why not?”

“This is a pro’s pro.”

“How good can they be? We and by we, I mean you, are still alive. And if they are that good, shouldn’t we look for a, I don’t know, safe hiding place?”

“I didn’t sense a kill intent,” Zion said. “Only the best can hide that. After seeing my laser deflection stunt they realize that sniping is useless against me. If they attack again, it won’t be with a sniper’s laser rifle and it won’t be so far away.”

“We don’t have time for this.” She grabbed Zion and formed a disc under him. The two of them flew up. “I have the entire city under-surveillance. Where ever he is, we will get him. She looked down at his waist. “You stay behind me.”

“You bombarded the atmosphere with nanites, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Wait, I can’t find anything.”

“The attacker shot at you, probably saw you as the biggest threat. They would expect a techno-witch to do something like that.”

She slowed their ascent. “So, if you are so smart, where is this assassin now?”

“Hiding, unwilling to give away his position.”

Bomba saw a blue speck in the distance that grew larger with each past moment. “What is that?”

“Or, they can fire on us with a…DNA seeking missile.”

“Crud!” Bomba flew in the opposite direction.

“I guess it has latched on to me. Can’t you blow it up?”

“No. My clones don’t have that kind of strength and by the time I disengage and make it here, you will be blown to bits.”

“Yes. That would be bad.”

 

When you get a chance, check out may current novel below:

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

 

 

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Hiatus

Short Story Saturday has been in hiatus for some time now. I have decided to go in a different direction and will serialize a novel, starting 9/19/2014. I doubt it will be easy, but if it was easy would it be worth doing?
Anyway, starting next week Serial Saturday will begin.

When you get a chance, check out may current novels below:

 Go Savant! is the link to Ultimate Savant.

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers

 
 

Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 4 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped!


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

Deragon felt the extra power surge in him. It wasn’t something that he enjoyed. It was his power and Nathaniel’s power added to his own. And in addition to the discomfort, there was the fact that the power came from a loss of a single diamond on his collar. How annoying. With only a fraction of Savant’s power, Deragon's power increased exponentially.

With a telepathic thought—a command really—the Bullyons fell asleep. Savant would appreciate that, after all, he could easily kill them. But he decided that it would please Nathaniel if he didn’t hurt the ones who hurt him.

Yet, the idea of letting Dr. Green live, didn’t sit well with him. He charged the scientist who faster than expected pulled out rocket launching pistol from his holster. It was a weapon that the Garnians used for maximal effect, to kill a single individual. He fired the weapon in rapid succession. He caught the mini-rockets and crushed them with his telepathic power.

Green slammed something on the wall and the entire room began to shake. “What will you do?” Green yelled. “Capture me or save the Bullyons and the egg?”

“I am going to eat you, of course.” Deragon lunged forward but a greater force held him back. He turned to the source of the force. Nathaniel Devereaux.

Nathaniel ran passed him and engaged Dr. Green in combat. A single kick in the chest and Nathaniel paused. Dr. Green grabbed his chest and scurried away. Nathaniel turned to Deragon. “Deragon, you know what you must do,” Nathaniel said.

“Of course, Savant.”

A panel in the wall opened, and Dr. Green slipped in. Deragon grimaced as the good doctor got away. He encompassed everyone in their own shield and soared upward; follow closely behind by the spheres he created.  Hopefully, Dr. Green would be buried along with the rest of his lab.

Soon they were floating above a huge crater.

“Can you get back to the Mayor?” Nathaniel asked Angela.

“Sure, what are you going to do?”

“I am going after Green.”

She cursed. “I want a piece of him too.”

“But we can’t put the child in danger and we can’t waste time.”

“I understand. Kick him in the head for me.”

The bubbles pop. Angela landed gracefully, while Nathaniel landed awkwardly on Deragon. “Let’s ride Deragon.”

“I am not a horse and which way?’

“The panel was on the west side, so we are going to travel due west. He is probably traveling along some underground system. Can’t go nearly as fast as us.”

“So basically, we are just going in some random direction based on your subjective probabilities.”

“My any probability is pretty good.”

They travelled west. Deragon telepathically searched for the fiend. With his luck, Green was using a telepathic shield. And this chasing after him was a waste of time. He should have ground his bones to dust when he had a chance.

“Stop,” Nathaniel said.

Deragon regarded Nathaniel “Realized that this is a waste of time?”

Nathaniel ran his hair through his braided hair. He was in deep thought. In his hand he held his phone. “Stay alert; the vibrations are coming from here?”

“Vibrations? I don’t feel any vibrations.”

“They are subtle, my program suggest that there is a class one sub preparing for takeoff. When it does, I want you to stop it.”

“You and your stupid phone—”

The ground began to vibrate and a port opened a hundred meters away. “Go!”

The shuttle shot upward and Deragon followed. He had difficulty catching the shuttle blasts from the ship propelled it faster. Once it hit escape velocity, there would be no way to catch it. Not without more power. And more power was the last thing he wanted. He roared as he gave it his all and jumped past the shuttle’s engine and swiping at the cockpit. A mighty blow split the ship in half. The explosion jolted Deragon slightly. He caught the cockpit in a bubble.

“Set him down below, so we can get some answers.”

“Right.” Deragon floated down the ship in his control. About twenty feet up, he dropped the shuttle.

“Gently,” Nathaniel said.

“Oops,” Deragon said. But his mistake exposed a ruse. In the cockpit, Dr. Green sat a panel on his chest open, exposing circuits. “What is this?”

“I felt it when I kicked him. The kick was supposed to incapacitate. But against a robot, it did only minimal damage.”

“So where is the real Dr. Green?”

“That is what we need to find out.”

 

The End

Next Story Arc: The search for Dr. Green

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 3 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped! 


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

 

“Children, you stare at me with dark eyes and a darkened heart. Savant or do you prefer Cadet Captain Nathaniel Devereaux? Whatever. You practically look down on me and yet, you are wrong. I am the hero here.”

Nathaniel pressed furiously on his Uphone. “Explain.” Behind him, he stabbed the heel of his foot into the shield that caged Deragon.

“You are attempting to distract me, while you hope to find a means of escape… You are wasting your time.”

“You are wasting our time. What the Haliquock are you doing?” Angela asked.

“Dear sweet Angela Roberts. You are content to follow the cadet that housed the body of the creature that inadvertently orchestrated your near death accident?”

“This cadet has saved me multiple times.”

“She has saved me just as much,” Nathaniel said.

“We have saved each other. And aren’t you trying to kill us too? How are you any better than Deragon?”

“Why are you trying to reason with this madman?” Deragon said weakly. “Get me out of here, so I can tear him apart.”

Green gestured to the dozens of Bullyons behind him. “They have orders to injure, but if I must kill you for the greater good—I will.”

“Yeah—you are a real hero,” Angela said.

“But clearly you see the fault in him being the wool for a wolf.”

“So you deem Deragon a danger to Union,” Nathaniel said. “Is this a covert mission? Who sanctioned this?”  

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“When this is over and they disavow you,” Nathaniel said, “what will you do?”

Dr. Green laughed. “You are assuming that you will come out of this with at least your memory intact. If you survive, your memory will be the first to go.”

“Yeah, that is not going to happen.” He pressed submit on his phone.

“I invented half of those apps on your phone. The shield strength should only be bullet proof.”

“Were you the author? I had no idea. You are right, the shield strength was as weak as the signal strength, so I modified both.”

Dr. Green’s face contorted, anger painted on his stone face, he turned to the Bullyons. “We have no choice. Kill them.”

The Bullyons fired their crude weapons threatening to burst the shield.

“Let’s see how strong your signal is now,” Dr. Green said.

“Strong enough,” Nathaniel said as he pulled Angela backwards. Their bodies phased through the shield holding Deragon. “Strong enough to match frequencies with the shield you made to hold Deragon.”

“And now you are trapped in there with him. Making it easier to kill you and solving my problem with a simple gesture of my hand.” He motioned and blue and gold electrical energy danced back and forth in the cage, but Angela and Nathaniel remained unharmed. “How?”

“Cutting Deragon off from me was smart. After all, his energy is housed in my body, but now that we are no longer separated, he can return to his full health and strength.”

“Yes,” Deragon said, “and it is clawing time.” He protracted his claws.”

“His full power has been calculated. There is no way you can break out of that shield.”

“You calculated his full power,” Nathaniel said. “But no one has calculated mine—I don’t even know my full strength.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I will let you see something that very few had ever seen.” Nathaniel signed the words, “Level four release.” A diamond on Deragon’s collar disappeared. His size increased momentarily but he reverted back to his normal size but his energy aura increased nearly two-hundred percent. “Can you handle it?”

“Of course I can,” Deragon said through gritted saber tooth teeth.

“Then quit dilly dallying and get us out of here,” Angela said.

Deragon surround them with a psionic energy bubble. In a blink of eye, the bubble tripled in size, obliterating the shield and the mechanism that controlled it. He jumped in front of Nathaniel and Angela and eyed Dr. Green and the frightened Bullyons. “Please run…” 

The End

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers

Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 2 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped! 


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

A bright light emanated from the bottom of the stair well. Otherwise, Angela and Nate were surrounded by darkness. A small human part of her wanted Jon to be there. Jon made her feel safe even if he lacked any combat abilities worth bragging about.

It was true that Nathaniel was an excellent hand to hand combatant, and a genius strategist. But as much as she hated Deragon, Nathaniel was more powerful with access to the tiger’s power. Angela tripped mid-thought and fell into the arms of Nathaniel—as if he knew she would fall.

“Hey, you okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah.” She straightened, thankful that it was dark. Why was she blushing like a little school girl? She was a warrior and Nathaniel was only her friend.

Only her friend.

They stepped to the bottom of the stairs. In a corner, trapped in some type of energy jail, Deragon was pounded by red lightning attacks. Every once in a while, Nathaniel flinched suggesting he was still experiencing the pain.

“What took you so long?” Deragon mouthed.

The Bullyons noticed Deragon’s distraction and turned toward Nathaniel and Angela. Unlike the Cutations, they were as tall as nine feet, with super small hands and feet. They ran toward the duo—no doubt to attack.

Nathaniel threw the rocks in their path. The first two tumbled over one another. Nathaniel ran to them, twirling the staff in one hand. “Get to the egg!”

Angela watched as he used moves that Bruce Leroy would have been proud of to take out the Bullyons that converged on him. She quickly turned and located the egg in the center of the room. She admittedly took the direct route and charged like a fullback toward her goal. One Bullyon got in her way and she used the cricket bat to slap him out of the way. Another attempted to intercept, but she slid under him, taking out his knee in the process. Had she not rolled in time, the behemoth would have landed on her. She flew forward, nearly reaching the egg, when laser fire caught her in the shoulder.

Several Bullyons elected to shoot at her with ancient laser guns. They were the kind that would leave a considerable amount of damage. Angela however healed moments after the attack. Nathaniel however…

Angela found Nathaniel, moving, somersaulting, dodging the laser fire. He ran directly to one of the Bullyons, snatched the weapon from him and shot a laser blast next to his head. The big guy grabbed his head and ran for safety. Nathaniel didn’t bother shooting him, turned and shot more warning shots at the Bullyons. He then cleared the way for Angela, who jumped over the table and grabbed the egg as she passed.

Angela tucked the egg like a football and ran for dear life.

“Over here—“ Nate pressed the trigger on the gun and nothing happened. He dropped it and ran toward Deragon’s tank. “On second thought, follow me!”

It was clear that he was going to free Deragon. Not the move Angela would have made. She would have taken the egg and escaped but he was her leader. With a series of Olympic level moves she made it to the tank in front of Deragon. “Now what?”

“Get me out of here!” Deragon said.

“They don’t want him free, so they are less likely to shoot.”

“Well, shouldn’t we be behind his tank?”

“Maybe.” He took his heel and pushed it flush against the energy field and reached into his pocket.

Two of the Bullyons moved closer and took careful aim. “I don’t think they got the memo.”

Nathaniel whipped out his phone, grabbed Angel and held his phone up as if he was taking a selfie with a friend.

“What are you doing?”

He activated an app, moments before the two Bullyons fired. The laser blasts bounced off an invisible energy field.

Angela turned toward Nathaniel. “You have a force field app on your phone?”

“Don’t you?”

The Bullyons continued firing.

“If your phone can do all that, why are we fighting like cave dwellers?”

“Perhaps Savant likes to see you sweat,” Deragon said.

“Deragon, be useful and tell us who did this to you,” Nathaniel said.

“STOP FIRING YOU IDIOTS!” The tall, painfully human figure walked out of the shadows. “Can’t you see that it is useless?”

“No way,” Angela said. It was rare for a human being to be part of Union or the Academy. In many ways she looked up to the man who she admired at a distance.”

The Bullyons moved backward and the man came forward, clapping his hand slowly. “As impressive as always.”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “Dr. Green.”

“I am surprised that you would need to ask this abomination who was behind his capture,” Green said.

“You are our instructor,” Angela said. “Why are you trying to kill us?”

He frowned as if the answer was obvious. “Why? For your own good.”

The End

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers

Short Story Team Savant: Egg-napped {Chapter 4 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To read the previous chapter click Here for the previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped!

Deragon sensed that Nathaniel was safe. Why did this please him? Of course, if the Earthian died, he would die too. However, there was something else. There was a warmth inside his center upon realizing that Savant and Angela was safe.

And he hated himself for it.

Deragon focused, cutting down his sensory connection to Nathaniel and opening up his personal sense of smell. He could not smell in the traditional sense. A flower was only a series of subatomic particles, but every living thing had a psionic signature.

His other senses were based upon this concept. His sight was a function of psionic radar. He saw what others saw but only because of the incredible abilities of Nathaniel… There it was again. A positive feeling toward his jailer. He must remain diligent. One day he and Nathaniel would be enemies again and he would be prepared.

A large group of Bullyons lay just ahead. A colony of Bullyons. Surely, the kidnappers were here. He closed the gap between himself and the colony. Deragon then turned invisible and began digging a tunnel like some ridiculous dog.

But what choice did he have? His energy level was low; he was technically no stronger than that weakling, Zorn. It was humiliating. If he was near Savant, he could literally rip the entire town off its foundation and cast it aside. Yet this far away… It begged the question, was he only a figment of the child’s imagination. Maybe in truth, Deragon was long dead.

He kept his invisibility as he pierced the ground on the other side.  He focused his senses and searched for non-Bullyon psionic energy. He found two objects one definite humanoid and the other harder to make out. He surmised that the harder one was the missing egg, but the humanoid felt familiar. He could probably even guess the race of the humanoid but to be certain, he would need to come face to face.

Curiosity got the better of him and he ignored Nathaniel’s previous command to report back immediately. He noted that the two Non-bullyons were in the same location. With powerful leaps, he located his target. The colony itself was a series of cube-shaped buildings and from above, it was difficult to pick them out, but one lit up like a torch because of the psychic energy emanating from it.

Deragon displayed a toothy grin as he hovered above it. He dived down, crashing through the top of the building. He landed with the egg roughly fourteen feet away. The Bullyons took one look at his fearsome visage and backed away. Their fear gave him more pleasure than he was willing to admit, but he decided not to relish in it.

He had a mission to accomplish. Deragon leaped toward the egg, but at the top of his jump some force hit him and an electro-barrier enveloped him igniting every inch of his being. What perhaps lasted for a few seconds felt like an eternity.

The energy cage released and Deragon fell to the ground. “Wh—what?”

“I see that even in your weaken form you contain enough strength of will to resist complete psionic degeneration.” The humanoid walked around a corner. “So tell me. What does it take to kill you?”

Deragon peered through the shell of the outer shield. The humanoid on the other side was…familiar. “You…you were at the academy.”

“It is no wonder that you don’t remember me. While you were portraying your Cadet Beenox persona, you were self-centered…self-absorbed. You may not remember but I definitely remember you and young Nathaniel Devereaux.”

Deragon struggled to stand. “What do you want from us?”

“Us?” He laughed. “I want Cadet Devereaux to learn his place and you? Well, I want you to die.”

The End~For Now 

Team Savant will be on hiatus a week or two, but I will post a different sci-fi short story during that time. Return next Saturday, for Short Story Saturday. And when Savant returns, we will learn the fate of Deragon.

NOTE:

A re-imagination of the original story of Savant will be in online stores soon, followed by the long awaited sequel!
In the meantime, you can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers