Solaris Fall: A Behemoth Ascending Novella Read online

  “What now? What will happen to us?” Vera asked in a soft voice, barely understanding the whole situation.

  “We have saved over ten thousand people in this complex. We put them asleep, including myself, and we wait until everything is over,” Commander Padis said in resignation.

  “What about me?” Vera answered sadly. “I hate to be alone.”

  “You can go sleep too,” Commander Padis told her, looking straight into her dark eyes. “I wish I could hug you now.”

  Vera felt, for the first time, the human emotion of hopeless and deep sadness, making her holographic image showing tears down her cheeks. “I wish that too, Commander. Perhaps in the future,” she said with a small and sad grin.

  “Program the computers to monitor all what it’s going to be possible in the time we will be gone. If anything changes, you will wake up first, evaluate the situation and then you will take me out of the dreamless darkness I will go into. Do you understand Vera?” Padis said, this time in a serious voice. If they were awake in the wrong moment, there was a chance they couldn’t go back to sleep for a long time, and food and water were limited.

  “Understood, Commander. Good sleep and see you soon,” Vera replied, then, her image disappeared.

  “See you soon, my child,” Padis said. For him, the AI was his never born daughter.

  Vera monitored everyone while they were entering the cryo capsules with a deep sadness. It was in that moment when she decided if they woke up again, she would transfer her program, or soul as she liked to call it, to a synthetic body. She would give Commander Padis a hug, and perhaps, the love he’s never received from a son or daughter.

  An hour later, everyone in the Titan Complex were asleep and the lights and systems were shut down. Vera closed her eyes and her soul went idle.

  THE END

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  Turn the page for an introduction to the first book of Behemoth Ascending, release 30th of April 2019.

  BEHEMOTH

  ASCENDING

  BOOK ONE

  "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

  ISAAC ASIMOV

  PROLOGUE

  Eight years of service in the United States Space Marine Force. Eight years of hard training, space traveling between Earth and Luna and preparing him to this day. So many years wasted for nothing. No one could prepare a Marine for what was coming after him. Fighting another human was one thing. Fighting an unknown enemy with far superior weapons and combat skills was another. This enemy was made, for one thing, one only; it was war.

  Captain Mark Mason, from the USSMF, couldn’t believe what was coming behind him. Half of his squad was dead. Lieutenant Brooks, Sergeant Newton, and Private Mendez were slaughtered in a matter of seconds. They didn’t have a chance of defending themselves. Only Private Perez was alive and waiting in the security of the Mars Rover outside the dark cavern. He knew that Commander Officer Alexander Rodker would be furious for this outcome. The Commander was at that moment exploring the Cydonia Mensae site, just over two-hundred kilometers away from the Crash site, doing some research with other members of the MarX Mission, determining if Cydonia was once inhabited and those stone formations were indeed, remains of a civilization.

  He kept running just behind Sergeant Miller while he set up some automatic high explosive charges along the last corridor before exiting the dark and dangerous place. What he saw inside that place would rewrite the history books. There was life in all kind of forms.

  The mission should have been a standard reconnaissance mission. Just get to the target, evaluate the level of danger, explore and secure the area. No chance for that. Getting inside the spacecraft wasn’t easy. The only entrance visible was a dark cavern just beneath the cliff side of a valley. Captain Mason thought the cavern entrance wasn’t natural, as the circular shape indicated it was drilled. After few minutes inside the spacecraft, trouble began with a lethal result.

  “Keep moving, Sergeant!” Mason ordered through his radio comm device installed in his pressurized combat helmet. “Last two charges, first one to detonate in five seconds, following ones after two seconds.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sergeant Miller replied, breathing intensely. Gravity on Mars was a third of Earth’s normal gravity, that was the reason to equip the Marines with a heavier gear and weapons. Even like this, all equipment was heavy, but Marines were tough guys.

  The creature that followed them was over fifty meters behind. After killing the other members of the squad, the terrifying monster remained for a precious couple of minutes dismembering piece by piece the three unlucky men. It was vicious, even for the darkest serial killer’s mind or the wildest and ferocious predator at the savanna. Mason saw it all and almost made him to puke, not a good idea with a battle vacuum suit. He felt petrified, frighten and wrath was boiling his blood. He shot the creature with numerous bursts of piercing rounds, but the bullets didn’t cause any effect. The alien had some type of heavily armored battle suit protecting him. Mason knew that close combat was out of the question. The damn thing was over seven feet tall, strong complexion and the most shocking thing, it had a long and lethal tail. Mason thought if the alien was some type of reptilian as the shape of its helmet gave him that impression. It was in that moment that he felt powerless, and all the training done over the years to fight this thing was useless. It was like a small antelope trying to fight a hungry lion.

  Finally, the first high explosive detonation blew up and a loud scream was heard by Captain Mason and Sergeant Miller while the ground shook lightly. Both were close to the entrance of the cavern, just a hundred more meters to run in darkness. Then, the second explosion detonated, shaking the ground, this time stronger than the previous detonation. Dust and small pieces of debris fell all over the place and then the third explosion and the fourth. The whole place began to crumble with big chunks of rock falling from the top. Smaller pieces hit both marines, making Mason to momentarily fall on his knees just to stand right away.

  “I think we got the motherfuckin’ bastard! It must pay for what it’s done to our bros!” Miller shouted in jubilation and with a touch of revenge in his voice.

  “I hope you are right,” Mason replied when, from behind, a small energy burst brushed his head, almost impacting him. In a fast movement, he turned his eyes to Sergeant Miller as his comm fell silent with just static, only to see his body falling to the floor, beheaded with no sign of blood gushing out his remaining neck. The energy burst cauterized the wound. His heart practically stopped, and his run ended to turn around, pulling his heavy assault rifle to his shoulder and then, furiously faced the alien and pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. He was screaming nonstop while more piercing rounds left the rifle’s cannon. Empty cases were impacting the ground and wall of the cavern with its remarkable metal clink. Tears ran down his cheek as he knew Sergeant Miller for several years. They were good friends and Mason knew that Miller had two kids and one just born. How could he tell his wife Emily that her husband was just beheaded by a vicious alien? That counting he could survive this mission.

  Piercing round after piercing round left the rifle's cannon in a fire burst. The chemical composition inside the cartridge cases was slightly different of those used on Earth; Mars had almost no oxygen to burn
gunpowder. The alien screamed. Violent moves indicated that a few projectiles succeeded to penetrate the alien’s battle armor as well the screaming Mason could hear. It was very loud, and it reminded him of a dinosaur from a movie. The high explosive detonations partially damage the powerful armor the alien was equipped with. Energy bursts kept coming out from the alien’s weapon with no luck of targeting the human. Mason finally emptied his rifle’s magazine, five hundred bullets, then with a deep breath and a wolfish look, held a detonator in his left hand. The last high explosive wasn’t automated by movement, that one was a remote-control detonation device and the goddamn alien was right next to it. The alien was fighting to keep standing on his feet, looking at the human and dropping his weapon in a surrender sign when Mason pressed the bottom. “See you in hell, son of a bitch.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  One month earlier

  Inside the MarX Transit 1, Commander Officer Alexander Rodker was looking out the cockpit window in the command center to see for the first time through a human eye the red planet. The view was astonishing, breath-taking. The dream of Mars was closer. Too many questions without answer awaited in that planet. It was the only chance for mankind to survive a long term; humanity needed a second home to avoid a future extinction. Pollution, war and overpopulation was decimating the world’s natural resources and ecosystems. Mass extinctions of species were occurring in that moment with several species disappearing daily from the face of Earth. Rain forest were cut down to allow more intensive farming to feed a hungrily and unstoppable rising population that, in that year, exceeded the ten billion mark. In just another twenty years, population will raise to twelve billion and by the end of the century, twenty billion. So, the need of space travel and colonization of the solar system was a priority to avoid the destruction of the human race, a self-destruction.

  The small fleet heading to the red planet needed another few days to begin the deceleration phase before to execute hyperbolic entry to Mars’ thin atmosphere. Six months have taken the crew of the first human mission to arrive to their destination. In those months, the hundred-forty members of the four manned spacecrafts have prepared for what was coming next; build a human settlement, expand the propellant plant already working on the planet and send back the spacecrafts to Earth. The other spacecrafts, BMR Class (Big Methane Rocket) were the MarX Transit 2 and two cargo ships with all supplies they would need in the two years mission while more colonists and equipment arrived. To minimize the travel time to the planet, Mission Control, based in Houston, had to wait till the opportunity window; when Mars was near its closest orbit to Earth. To return the cargo and the transit crafts, they’d need to wait almost two years for the next window. In that time, many things could go wrong, so badly, that some may lose their lives. There was a risk, yes, but every crew member agreed to that.

  ◆◆◆

  Days after, the comm console in his quarters went on. “Sir, we are approaching the orbit of Mars, hyperbolic entry is set up in ten hours,” reported the comm officer.

  “Copy that, I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” Commander Alexander Rodker replied pressing the comm bottom of his quarter.

  He tried to stand to wear a clean uniform, but the micro gravity was giving him a bad time. He couldn’t wait till he’d feel gravity again, even knowing that Mars had only a third of Earth gravity, the sensation of standing erected on the planet’s dusty ground made him to feel better. The construction of a bigger spacecraft with a self-rotating wheel to create artificial gravity was under construction on Luna Space Station, but it would take several more years to finish the titanic construction. He looked at himself in a mirror on the wall. “I need to shave this beard, I can’t go live and appear like a homeless in every media site around the world,” he thought while touching his one-month grown beard.

  Thirty minutes after he arrived at the Command Center to check all systems before initiating the final approach to the planet and begin the landing. If everything went right, the landing stage would take over five minutes. The landing site selected for this mission was in Cydonia Mensae, a bit far from the planet’s equator were temperatures were far better than the sub-zero they would find in Cydonia. That concerned him, as it was a change of plans just a month ago. Once on the surface, they’d settle inside a shallow crater where the crew would install a provisional habitation dome while the underground ones were constructed to protect them of the lethal solar radiation. The crater was just a few miles away from where the Viking probe took the mysterious picture of a human face and what it looked like a pyramid complex. That complex wasn’t like the Giza pyramids resembling the Orion belt, this one resembled the Pleiades constellation. Perhaps it was a clear message for humanity, a clue of its origin or something worse, a warning. That also concerned Rodker immensely. He was convinced that Mars had a civilization, possibly human-like one, and all those details were kept in secret from the public. Of course, conspiratorial theorists all around the world didn’t buy it. For them it was totally impossible that geology had done those structures naturally.

  “What’s the status?” asked Rodker to his XO Captain Cartwright, as he sat on his command chair.

  “All systems fully working, sir,” answered the young and good-looking Captain.

  “The other ships?” Rodker asked, touching several icons on the control screen.

  “All functional, nothing to worry about,” Cartwright added.

  Ensign Tanaka turned his look to Rodker. “It’s been a hell of a ride, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was,” replied Rodker rolling his eyes. “All of us had spent some time in the ISS, but this…” he paused. “This has been a damn nightmare. I hope to remain in Mars, just to not have another trip like this one.”

  Everyone nodded agreeing with the Commander’s words. Almost fifty people in a small vessel like that one, sharing four crew members a quarter. It was worse than the military training period where dozens of recruits had to share a small barrack.

  “Sir,” said Lieutenant Ravenna, “Do you really believe there was a civilization in Mars?”

  Rodker looked down and then, to the Lieutenant. “Perhaps. If there was once a civilization, we’ll find out soon.”

  ◆◆◆

  Hours later, the four manned vessels, the MarX Transit Vehicle 1 and 2 and the two cargo ships, identical as the Transit ones but only carrying a heavy payload, made their final approach to enter the Martian orbit. The deceleration phase finished and using just thrusters, the ships took position to enter the thin Co2 Atmosphere of the planet.

  “This is Commander Officer Alexander Rodker in live from the MarX Transit 1. We are about to initiate the landing sequence. We are here, in Mars, and if everything goes as planned, we should be on the planet’s surface in the next five to six minutes,” said Rodker to the camera that was recording the whole process and broadcasting it in every media site of the world. “On my mark,” he took a deep breath. “Begin the landing sequence.”

  Everyone in the busy and small Command Center of the MarX Transit 1 began pressing icons on their station’s computer screens.

  “EDL (Entry, descend, landing) sequence engaged, all system functioning correctly,” informed Captain Cartwright.

  “Helmets on and security belts fasten tight,” ordered Rodker. He could feel the ship shaking slightly.

  “Altitude, four-hundred and fifty kilometers and descending,” Sensor Officer Ensign Tanaka said. Seconds after, the spacecraft began shaking much stronger than before due to ship’s contact with the atmosphere. “Teo-hundred kilometers and descending.”

  “Vectors looking good,” intervened Captain Cartwright. “Constant velocity descends balanced. Temperature in the hull, seventeen-thousand Celsius.”

  Rodker continued looking at the main command view screen for all details. One small error in the descending sequence and the ships could turn in a fire ball of wreckage.

  “Ten seconds for thrusters, propellant valves functioning,” informed Lieutenan
t Ravenna prepared to press the thruster’s icon. “Thrusters firing.”

  Moments after firing the thrusters, the spacecraft turned ninety degrees, fired the propulsive engines and opened the air brakes. The high G level made the crew to feel a big pressure on their chests, like someone stood on them.

  “Twenty kilometers and descending, thirty seconds for touch down,” Ensign Tanaka informed. Everyone was anxious to touch ground. It’s been a long trip and a successful landing would be their prize. “Touch down in 3… 2… 1…” Slowly the spacecraft opened its landing legs and touched the dusty ground. A suddenness and violent movement hit the vessel and then nothing. “Landing successful, turning off engines.”

  A second of silent flooded the ambiance and then, all in a sudden, explosions of jubilation sparkled in the Command Center.

  “Status in the other ships,” Rodker asked, his heart beat rose as fire.

  “MarX Transit 2 touched down, Cargo 1 touched down, Cargo 2…” Captain Cartwright suddenly stopped, her face turned pale. “I have no contact with Cargo 2. It doesn’t appear in the sensors and I have no link with it.”

  Rodker felt his heart stopped for a moment with an icy chill traveling all his body. “Contact Transit 2 and scan the surface, now!”

  “Sir, Transit 2 at the comm,” reported Captain Cartwright.

  Rodker lifted his arm and pressed the comm bottom. “Here Commander Rodker, what’s your status.”

  “Here Second Commander Aiden Godley. Cargo 2 was disintegrated when it touched the atmosphere. We saw it with our own eyes, sir,” informed with a sad and deep voice.