Science Fantasy Short Story {Reaper: Chapter four Part one}

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 guild, who ignored their laws and who fight for the greater good.

Genre: Science Fantasy Romance

The crumpling of paper alerted Bomba that something was wrong. She stretched, turning to her side. More crumpling. She opened her eyes, her mind flooded with memories. She jumped up and looked around. “Zion?” A quick scan told her that not only was she alone, but her cloak was missing. She found the source of the crumpled paper. A thick sheet with words written in an earth language. It took her only a moment to decipher.

Saw something interesting on the net, took your cloak to check it out. Should be back this evening. If you decide to leave, make sure no one follows you. P.S. Don’t touch my stuff.

“Son of a—Martha!”

An image of the avatar appeared just above the sphere she planted earlier. “Yes mistress?”

“Where is Zion?”

“I do not know.”

“He took my over cloak. Track it.”

Martha pointed to the night stand. “It appears he removed them.”

She walked over to the night stand. Not only were the circuits there, but so was his gun and a container of dirt positioned directly in the sunlight. “I blacked out from over-exertion last night. Start from your portable pod’s activation up to the moment that I woke up.” Martha disappeared and blue holographic representations of the past appeared in her place. She watched as Zion gently placed her in the bed. He soon fell asleep. “Fast forward.” The time reference sped up. Zion tossed for a moment but soon sat up. “Stop. How much time has passed?”

“Two hours.”

“I guess he doesn’t need much sleep after hibernation. Continue.” He got up and walked over to the oak desk. He tapped on it and a computer ascended. He worked on it diligently. Bomba walked over and looked over his shoulder. “He is shopping?”

“He visited several shopping sites,” Martha said, “but he also visited several bounty sites.”

“Bounty? Was he checking on his?”

“I do not know.”

“Did he buy anything?”

“No. Most of the sites visited require the buyer to appear in person. I must also mention that the items he searched for were very high end.”

“You suspect—no. If he wanted to take me in, he could have easily done it. What is he up to?”

“I don’t know.”

“I wasn’t really asking…. Just speed it up. “

Zion stood up from the computer and stared down at it as it disappeared in the desk. He turned around and stared at her sleeping body. He walked over to her and slowly and gently removed her cloak. Zion then removed the parts from the cloak and set them on the night stand. He pulled his gun away from under his pillow, stuck it in the holster and set it neatly on the table. He then reached inside of his overcoat and grabbed two containers. It was two old school food containers but when he removed the top, they contained only black soil. He set them besides his guns, measured and positioned it near the window.  He moved the blinds aside slightly. Just enough to allow the moonlight to come through. He then removed his necklace, dislodged the emerald jewel and planted it deep in the black earth.

The next moment, he stripped off more of his clothing until he was standing in front of her bed nude. He stared at her for a moment, grabbed her cloak and silently moved to the cleaner. He stuck his clothes mixed with her cloak in the cleaner and turned it on, still Bomba lay in bed. Why was she able to sleep through all that? He walked into the bathroom in all of his glory. She looked away for a moment, but like a shuttle wreck she couldn’t help but stare. Some force pulled her into the bathroom. It wasn’t the first time she had seen a man nude. She had seen several images on the net. So why did this feel different?

His body looked as if was carved out of wood. A result of his chloroman heritage? He rubbed his fingers through his dark green hair. He fingered through the apparatus at the base of the mirror and grabbed a sonic shaver. He edged his hair and cut it two inches shorter. In mere moments it was a short textured version of the previous hair style. He turned on the sonic shower and then closed the door. The images disappeared and Bomba walked outside of the bath room and sat on the bed.

Fifteen minutes later, the image reappeared. An image of Zion stepping out of the bathroom. He then opens the cleaner and places his clothes on, along with her cloak. She clenched her fist as he walked toward the door, but unclenched when he stopped and looked once again at her. He came back and covered her with layers of covers. He then searched the desk. He pulled out a deck of playing cards, studied them for a moment and then placed them in his pocket. He searched even more until he found synthetic paper and a pen. He wrote on it and placed the sheet under her head. After he left, the image flickered again. “Mistress, you slept four more hours after he left.”

“End recording,” Bomba said.

Martha reappeared. “I took the liberty to search the cameras of the city. There is no record that he has even left the building.”

“No, he would know to avoid actual and potential cameras. Kiyah could do the same thing.”

“What would you like me to do?”

Bomba played with her fingers. “This pile of dirt. What is in it?”

“A seed,” Martha said. “A techno-organic seed to be exact, the likes of which I have never seen.”

“Oh, what is so special about it?”

“I have tried to discern its end-result based on the data, but I have found nothing. I have tried to communicate with it or at least read its code. A firewall protects its code and it doesn’t communicate. It just grows. Rather quickly. Assuming that the container will contain the roots, I imagine that it will reach full fruition by nightfall.”

“Interesting. I guess I will have to wait until he returns, because there is no way I can track him.”

“What will you do?”

“I surely will not stay here and wait for him. I will keep my end of the bargain and get his tesseract bag. Find the closest subspace communicator.”

“I have found it, but I worry that a bounty hunter may recognize you.”

“Not on this planet. Zion chose this planet well. There are bounty hunters here, but there are many more with bounties on their heads. Most of whom, the planet caters to. Anyone seeking a bounty would do so with, very little local aid. It would be a foolish endeavor.”

End of Part One of Chapter Four.

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

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Go Savant! is the link to my Young Adult Fiction Ultimate Savant.

Short Story: Big Trouble in Little Hela {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

 

Nathaniel mastered the language in roughly fifteen minutes. He spent the next six hours working on a computer program that would mend the tear in the very fabric of reality. Zorn spent the better part of six hours writing the program and another three hour editing. Lights flickered as Elmo worked furiously to prepare his ship. He finally gave the three-dimensional image to Nathaniel who observed it for an hour before announcing the edits as he worked.

It was during the third simulation that their guests arrived. Four hulking blue men appeared outside of Elmo’s ship. They walked equidistant apart, guns at the ready.

“Aquarian rebels,” Nathaniel said. “They appear to be on steroids.”

“I can’t risk any damage to the ship,” Elmo said.

“There won’t be any damage,” Nathaniel said. “I will draw them away and soon as we are clear, you can take off.”

“I can’t leave you in danger,” Elmo said.

“We are not in any danger,” Nathaniel said.

“Those guys look plenty strong,” Zorn said.

“They are,” Nathaniel said as he stood up.

Zorn stood up as well. “Are they susceptible to telepathic blasts?”

“Normally no,” Nathaniel said. “But you are strong enough to blast through.”

“Doesn’t give me a lot of confidence.”

“Just follow my run pattern,” Nathaniel said.

The two of them stepped out of the ship waved at the rebels and ran for dear life. Blasts of laser fire heated the air around them.   Nathaniel zigged and zagged. Zorn followed as closely as possible, bounding over fallen trees, bushes and rocks. Soon they came to a clearing. “Why are we stopping in an open space?”

“So we can fight.”

“Did you bring a weapon?”

He pointed to three pebbles on the ground. “I could use those, but since you are here, I will go easy.”

“What?”

The four behemoths bounded into the open space. “Well, if it isn’t our queen’s boy toy.”

“I am your future king,” Nathaniel said.

“You are no king of mine.”

“Well, I guess since you are giving up your citizenship, there is no need to hold back.” He ran forward. “I will take the two on the right,” he said to Zorn. All four of them fired upon him, missing their shots by the narrowest of margins. One abandoned his weapon when he realized the ineffectiveness of the attack. Nathaniel disarmed the other, grabbing his power cell from his weapon and threw it at another assailant. The cell blew up in the face of the giant. He fell forward, his gun discharging as he hit the ground. The blast hit the standing Aquarian squarely in the chest and just like that, the second one was down. Two smarter creatures backtracked while firing. Zorn grabbed the mind of one, they mentally wrestled for a moment, but Zorn was the stronger. He forced him to put his weapon on stun and fire at his friend and then at himself.

Zorn walked over to Nathaniel who hovered over one of the fallen Aquarian. “Is he?”

“No, the blast missed his heart by five centimeters. The first aid I administered will keep him alive until the authorities come.”

A close sonic boom drew their attention the sky. Elmo’s ship entered the tear and disappeared out of their current reality. The tear closed. “We did it!”

“I have to go. I have to find Isis. My Isis.” Nathaniel took off in a sprint. “I will see you on the other side.”

As he ran, reality swirled around him as if flushed down a drain.

Darkness followed.

 Zorn opened his eyes. He was in his bunk. “If that was a dream I will make plans to destroy this planet,” he said.

A thump startled him. He looked over his bed—Nathaniel was sprawled out on the floor. He stood up, grabbed his robe, put it on and limped to the door.

“Nate?”

“Hey, what is all the commotion?” Jon asked.

Nathaniel opened the door. Isis was standing there ready to knock on the door. “Hello,” she beamed.

“Isis, are you all right?” Nathaniel asked.

“Yes.” She frowned as she cocked her head sideways.

“I had a bad feeling,” Nathaniel said.

“You had a nightmare, doofus,” Jon said.

“I would still like to run a diagnostic on our ship—maybe scan the planet,” Nathaniel said.

Isis shook her head. “Proteus ordered us to relax,” Isis said. “As the official captain of this mission, I am ordering you to relax.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Yes Cadet Captain.”

“Good. I have plans for us today…be ready at 0930. Bring bathing suits.”

“We will,” Zorn said.

She stared at Zorn and then back to Nathaniel. “I had the strangest dream. I was Queen and you were first in line to be my king.”

Nathaniel straightened. “I dreamed that you got mad at me for bowing to you.”

“Of course, I would.”

“And then there was this ship and a ghost.”

“A ship and a ghost?” Jon laughed. “Sounds like a nightmare to me.  I had a dream that Isis hated Zorn.”

Jon rubbed his head. Remembering the pain administered by Angela. “I am certain that in such a dream…the feeling was mutual.”   

                                                                  The End

Team Savant will be on hiatus for a few weeks, but I will post a different sci-fi short story during that time. So, new post, next Saturday! Chapter 1 of Transfer. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of my older stories on this website.

NOTE:

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: Big Trouble in Little Hela {Chapter 1 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 story arc click HERE and read all three chapters.

The first day of their team vacation was as boring as any vacation. Zorn and his friends spent the majority of their time walking, trying to find something to do. Even Isis, who frequented Hela as a child, found the theme planet utterly boring.

The advantage of an entire planet as a theme park was evident. If they were not happy on one continent, moving to another continent proved to be a simple matter.

At the end of the day, they slept in separate rooms—the boys sectioned away from the girls. Zorn on the top bunk, while Nathaniel slept on the middle bunk and Jon slept on the bottom. The three of them talked for two minutes before Nathaniel went to sleep, followed by Jon.

Zorn closed his eyes.

The next morning, the first thing he noticed was silence.  Jon should be snoring and Nate should be breathing deeply from either meditation or exercising. Zorn peered down from the top bunk—even the room looked different. Was this a prank?

Zorn climbed down and searched the room. No one. Nothing. Nothing to suggest that anyone ever checked in. He pressed the communicator on the desk. “Ladies, have you seen Jon or Nate?”

“Zorn!” He recognized Isis’s voice, but the sound was far too angry to belong to the tall blue-skinned girl he knew.

“Isis?”

“How dare you use this line.”

“It is a free planet.”

Silence filled the air. “I will ask Nathaniel about your definition of free.”

“If you say so. Where is Nate?”

“You mean Lord Nathaniel. He went for a stroll, something about the local market.”

“Thanks.” Zorn disconnected and ran to the bathroom. He was dressed and out in the hallway, in a military minute. In the hallway, Angela stood next to her door. She reached into her purse for something. A key? But she was at the wrong door. Zorn walked quickly to her. “Did you get another room?”

“Huh? Oh hi, Zorn.”

“Hi. Did you get another room?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You bunked with Isis. Why did you change rooms?”

“Bunk with her royal pain in the butt? No way. I am her knight not her…” She leaned unto the door and fell asleep.

He studied her for a moment. “Narcolepsy? But you should be cured.”

She woke up, opened the door and walked in. Not bothering to look behind her, she closed the door in Zorn’s face.

Weird.

At the market, he found Nathaniel in the produce section. “Nathaniel!”

He turned to Zorn and smiled. His normally gravity-defying hair lay flat. A jet-black bed of snaking micro-braids. He moved his free hand quick. Sign language. “What’s up?” Nathaniel asked.

“Nothing…Lord Nathaniel.”

He smiled. “You don’t have to call me that,” he signed.

“Nate, what is going on? I just saw Angela and she fell asleep while talking to me and you are signing instead of talking to me.”

“I—It…is e—easier, than stu—stu—stuttering,” Nathaniel said.

“You don’t stutter…often, and Angela is virtually cured of her Narcolepsy. Why is Hela so dreary? This is a theme planet, why is the atmosphere so…bland? What happened to the silly games, vendors, and clowns?”

“Clowns?”

“And Jon. Where is Jon?”

“He went to scout out the local cuisine for the queen.”

“Queen? What queen? His planet is a Democracy.”

Nathaniel placed the fruit down and placed both of his hands in front of him. “You are starting to scare me. Do you need a vacation? I can talk to Isis for you,” he signed.

“Isis?” Zorn pinched his nose. “What are you—Proteus sent us here on vacation.” Zorn lifted his head. “Don’t you remember?”

“Wh—who is P—Proteus?”

Zorn stared at him for a moment. He placed his hand on his temple and used his telepathy to probe Nathaniel’s mind. The usual blocks were there but different. Everything about his mind was different.

Nathaniel grabbed his arm. “Wh—what are y—you doing?” He looked around and when he relaxed, placed his hand on Zorn’s temple. “What are you doing? You know how Isis feels about you reading my mind.”

“How are you able to tap into my telepathy?” There was an odd echo.

Nathaniel frowned.  “I figure it out four months after we met. I only needed to manipulate the signal you sent into my mind... Zorn, what is wrong with you?”

“Me? Wait. Where is Deragon?”

“Who the florg is Deragon?”

Zorn nodded. A plan formed as he studied Nathaniel’s face. “I am clearly confused. Suffering from some version of Datrevian memory lapse. Can you tell me, who are you and what is our relationship?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “You are attempting to deceive me. My Zorn would know better. Still, I don’t sense danger or kill intent from you…”

Zorn’s heart lightened. At the core, Nathaniel was still the same—perhaps this could be fixed.

“Who is Savant?” Nathaniel asked telepathically.

Zorn took a deep breath and explained everything. How they met at the Union Academy. Fought against the Templusian and saved literally the universe many times over. Zorn told Nathaniel of Angela’s healing power, Jon’s special vision, and Nathaniel’s own ability to recognize patterns. He explained how this ability allowed him to trap a powerful psychic entity in his own mind. Once he finished, he waited patiently for Nathaniel to tell his story.

“We are knights of Queen Isis’s round table. I was the thirteenth knight but I defeated all of the knights that opposed me, as well as the suitors of Queen Isis to become her prime suitor. I could tell you of our adventures, but they are so similar that it feels redundant…you are from another world—a parallel one.”

“I guess that is possible.”

“Possible but improbable,” a voice said. The eerie voice broke their psychic connection.

Nathaniel grabbed his temple and stepped back into an alien creature, foreign to Zorn. He was seven feet tall, horned, with an elongated neck and three fingers. Instead of bouncing off him as Zorn expected. Nathaniel passed through him as if he was a ghost.

“Wh—why did y—you break our c—co...connection?”

“I—I didn’t,” Zorn said.

“I did,” the alien said. “Zorn, you do not know me, but I know you and your friend. You are heroes in many realities.”

“Realities?”

Nathaniel straightened. “Realities?” he signed. He stared at Zorn. “You aren’t talking to me, are you?”

Zorn shook his head.

“I am Elmo.”

“Elmo?”

“Yes, Elmo. Nathaniel cannot sense me, but he is an important part of my plan.” He clasped his hands together. “What we are experiencing is a merging of two realities. We must stop it, or the old reality will cease to exist.”

“Cease to exist?”

“Yes. Replaced by a new reality. This type of incursion is unnatural and must be stopped. Will you help me?"

The End of Chapter One of Big Trouble in Little Hela
New Post, next Saturday!

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

Team Savant {Unknown Chapter 3 of 3}

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.
Click HERE for the previous chapter
 

The hologram of Proteus studied the damaged area. He turned to James and Martha Devereaux. “I will send a clean-up crew here in a day—if there are any expenses; do not worry. We will compensate.”

“Thanks Pro,” James said.

“You are welcome…Jay.” He turned to Nathaniel. “Impressive amount of chaos, cadet.”

“I take full responsibility,” Nathaniel said.

“I was a willing participant,” Isis said.

“I ordered her,” Nathaniel said.

“Do not lie to protect me,” Isis said. “I chose to be by your side.”

James chuckled. “Son, you better keep her.”

“Let him graduate from college before you give him away,” Martha said.

  Proteus held out his hand. “The others are here.” The rest of the team showed up in a small shuttle. It landed in front of the house and transformed into a grey and red Earthian vehicle. A van? Deragon remembered Nathaniel speaking of Earthian vehicles shaped like a box—maybe a train? Deragon dismissed the thought.

The cadets stepped out gingerly—weapons in hand. “Put those away,” Proteus said.

Zorn stiffened. “Yes sir.” He ducked back into the vehicle. The others followed.

Proteus turned to Nathaniel. His dark eyes narrowed. “Admittedly, the program for the robots is evolving. They are ill-equipped to distinguish between friend or foe…. So, what did you do wrong?”

“I attacked first,” Isis said.

“No,” Nathaniel said. “I came in prepared for combat. I approached like…”

“A soldier,” Proteus finished. “And if you were a soldier fighting a battle, what you did today would be something remarkable.” He paused as Nathaniel’s complete crew rushed forward. “But the part of you that is a soldier is only a small part of who you are.” He sighed.

His fellow Datrevian stepped forward. “Sir,” Zorn said, “there is much I don’t know, but if you were aware of the battle, couldn’t you initiate the kill sequence?”

A small smile appeared on Proteus face. “Very astute. The robots were destroyed before the kill sequence reached earth. I am communicating via tachyon interface, but the sequence was sent through subspace transmission. We don’t have the budget for more tachyon controls. We don’t have the budget for most things. Thus cadets like you must act as enlisted soldiers.”

“We understand,” Nathaniel said. “But we wish to remain active, I will accept punishment, but please don’t punish my team.”

Proteus shook his head. “No, you will not be punished, but you will be forced to go on vacation for a week. Some place where you will stay out of trouble.”

“With all due respect,” Jon said as he covered his third eye. “Trouble tends to follow Earthians and we have two on the team.” The Triclopian shifted his feet. “No offense.”

“Offense taken,” Angela said.

“I have chosen a planet for you, where even you will not get into trouble.” He paused. “You must remember that you are future leaders—there is a place for diplomacy. Right? Cadet Captain Nathaniel Devereaux Diplomat of Earthia.”

Nathaniel looked down. “Yes sir.”

Proteus nodded and the image disappeared.

Angela punched Nathaniel in the arm. “You couldn’t wait for us?”

Nathaniel rubbed his arm. “Sorry.”

Deragon shoulders tighten as a hand patted him on the head. “Thanks for helping us,” Nathaniel’s mother said.

“Martha…” Deragon swung his head away. “I—I was just doing as I was told.”

“Still, thanks.” Martha walked away and joined the rest as they studied the broken robots.

Jon held up a head. “Fifteen credits say this is Isis’s handiwork.”

“It was a joint effort,” Isis said.

Deragon walked over to Nathaniel who appeared lost in deep thought. “Tell me,” Deragon said. “How were you able to fight robots are use a sword with enough efficiency to block lasers? Your ability to see patterns and read body languages cannot help you against a robot.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “Everything has a pattern. Every program has a pattern. It took me a moment to discern the pattern of the robots hand to hand fighting style. The difficulty was the laser fire. I suspected they would use long range attacks once their probability generator dropped below forty-percent success in hand-to-hand combat. I use the likelihood they would fire for a vital area, the width of my blade, and my own martial arts training. I surmised that I had a sixty-seven percent chance of blocking their lasers, a two percent chance of reflecting the shot back and a zero point zero, zero, one, five percent chance of taking out another enemy.”

“Insane. I am stuck in the head of an insane cadet.”

“Insanity is relative,” Zorn said. He placed his hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Don’t be so down on yourself. Proteus was proud.”

“He was also worried.”

“We should be worried,” Jon said. “If old Datrevian Proteus is sending us on a relaxing vacation to a planet of his choice, I know exactly where he is sending us.”

“Where is that?” Zorn asked.

“Planet Hela…”

Isis squealed. “That is an excellent planet. They have singing, games and stuffed animals and rides where you just go in a circle all day long!”

Jon pinched his nose. “It is a place for little children.”

Isis glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Angela pounded her fist. “I owe you one for the trouble remark.”

“Now. Now. Girls,” Martha placed her hand on Angela and Isis’s shoulder. “We have had enough violence for today. “Come on, you ladies can tell me all about your adventures while I prepare enough food for everyone.” She walked past them and toward Nathaniel. She slapped him gently on the face. “We love you too, but next time call first.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Come on James,” Martha said. “I need your help.”

James followed behind Isis and stopped in front of his son. “Nice moves back there. Heh. My son’s a ninja.” He walked away, and quickly rounded the corner of the house.

Jon followed for a moment and stopped. He turned around. “Are you coming?”

“I am going to start cleaning up my mess,” Nathaniel said.

“I will stay and help too,” Zorn said.

“I as well,” Deragon said.

All of the cadets turned toward him.

“My abilities would be useful in this situation,” Deragon said. “Besides, I would like to stay out in the real world for a while.”

Nathaniel smiled. “Sure, I will increase your range and you can roam the area.”

The smile caught Deragon off guard. “I don’t want your pity. I am just a tool that you use as you see fit.”

“No. Deragon, you are not just a tool. I apologize for making you feel that way.”

Deragon looked away. ”Whatever.”

“Ugh, what do I do?” Jon asked aloud. “Angela and Isis are plotting to kill me and the two of you are about to have a romantic moment.”

Deragon growled. “Moment? You might as well live your life with no regret." He purposely narrowed his eyes. "As soon as I escape Savant... Jon, you are the first one that I am going to eat.”

Jon mumbled and walked away.

He sensed Nathaniel’s gaze as he used his telekinetic power to lift two of the robots. “What is it?” Deragon continued working.

“Nothing. I just thought about what Proteus said. That we are not just soldiers, but that is our environment. Are we a product of our environment or is our environment a product of who we are? Something to ponder.”

“Sounds like a bunch of kravitz to me. “

End of Unknown

Next Time: Big Trouble in Little Hela
Team Savant is on break next week, but will return soon after. In the meantime, you can check out some of my older stories on this website.

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