Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter (50 page)

Raza shoved her aside and hollered at Ray. “What have you done to my family?!”

The disembodied voice returned as Ray’s eyes flickered open. “All we requested…is that…you surrender yourselves…so that you may be liquidated. A rather…simple request. A reasonable one. Now, there will be hell to pay.” Ray slumped to the floor as sliver of a shadow emerged from him and disappeared.

Raza sobbed uncontrollably and sank to her knees.

Sally grabbed him. “Ray, please wake up,” she said as she cradled him. She turned to Raza. “I saw you motion to me to project and to wait for your signal to make a move on Ray. Raza, it was horrible. It was like he was empty and there was no one inside, just blackness. Then I felt an iciness like I could never get warm again. And then there was this presence there, and it was so lonely and angry. But I know it wasn’t him, it was someone…something else.”

Raza wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “Yes, child, I know. I surmised as much,” she sniffled as she straightened her hair. “Very well. Composure is compulsory, that is what I was taught. I do believe I failed rather spectacularly in trying to uphold those teachings.” She cleared her throat. “Now Sally, tell me, what else did you see?”

Sally caressed Ray’s pale face as his breathing became shallow and ragged. “Whenever I project and enter someone, it’s like walking into a room filled with colors, images and sounds. But this time it was just nothing, only a creepy feeling that I was being watched and as I turned around to find it, something dark lunged at me. I lashed out with everything that I had, but it wasn’t afraid. I don’t know why, but I was really angry; it was like this thing brought out the worst in me. I could hear you shouting at me to push it out and I hesitated, then I shoved it as hard as I could,” she took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Raza, it felt like my life was slipping away when I touched it.”

“These creatures sustain themselves like parasites. I don’t know how or when Ray was possessed, but we’ll find out,” Raza said and touched his head. He began to stir and coughed harshly as Sally and Raza helped him sit up.

“Why do I feel so tired?” he mumbled and rubbed his eyes, “and why are you two staring at me like that?”

“Raymond, do you know where you are?” Raza said and took his hands into hers and held them to her chest.

His face was a blank slate. “I’m not sure. We’re in Appalachia, right?” he gazed up at the dome. It bore the scars of his energy blasts. “Are we back at Perihelion? Everything seems so foggy.”

She patted his hand. “It’s quite all right. Rest here for a while. We’ll go back to the house soon and I’ll fix everyone something to eat.”

Raza then walked out of the dome, leaving the teens behind to gather themselves and headed straight to the racks of electronic equipment. She found the signal boosters had powered down, and she checked behind them and saw that none were connected to electrical cables. She shook her head in disbelief and headed to the comm room to look at the screens. They were all blank.

She heard footsteps and turned to see Sally with her arms around Ray’s waist. He was pale and wheezing, with one arm draped over her neck and shoulder.

“Come children, follow me, there has been enough excitement and revelations for today,” Raza said and stepped around the console to grab Ray’s other arm and place it across her shoulder.

As the women helped Ray out of the barn, he turned to look back at the comm unit. “Did I try to contact my father?” he said, and then his head slumped as he succumbed to fatigue.

BREEZE SWOOPED TOWARD THE
river in the predawn hours. He raced over the surface, which compressed the air between his body and the river, creating a canyon of water that shot up and fell back in a white froth that trailed behind him. Then he arched his back and rocketed up to the star laden night sky.

He came to a halt and hovered for a moment, then dropped and glided into a looping pattern over the farmhouse as it sat nestled along the river against a backdrop of mountains surrounding the valley, with the lights of Mount Pleasant sparkling on the horizon to the east.

He ascended, relishing the cold air that rushed across his face. He broke through a cluster of clouds and slowed to a hover. The crescent moon hanging above did not shine brightly enough to obscure his view of the stars.

He looked at the night sky and thought about the stories Oslo told him of space flight and far off colonies. He shook his head as it all sounded like a fantasy to him.

A flicker of movement from the corner of his eye made him swivel his head to track what looked like a bird with large wings racing off into the distance. The clouds beneath it rippled as it glided over them, yet its wings never moved.

Breeze watched with a pounding heart as the memories of the winged creature ambushing them in the ravine were still fresh in his mind. His breathing intensified when it circled towards him and he reflexively raised his shield and began drifting away. As it approached, he could make out the distinct shape of the monster from the ravine.

The winged creature halted and hovered at a respectful distance while its eyes glowed with a golden hue, then abruptly flapped its wings. As it glided away, it held out a hand and pointed at the night sky.

Breeze looked up and noticed a star that shined more brilliantly than the others, and then glanced back down to track the creature, but it had faded into the night.

He returned his focus back to the bright star. The longer he stared at it, the more it appeared to wobble and rotate. He shivered. It felt like he was being watched. He knew there was something unnatural about the star, and it intrigued and frightened him all the same.

He looked at his nav-compass and noted the time. He grimaced, then drifted down into the clouds and began his descent to the river where he saw the scout ship sitting alongside the river bank. He and Achilles had been working on the vessel for the past several weeks. They had procured the various parts needed for repairs and continued to make upgrades to worn out components. The rising sun reflecting off the hull cast the ship in a whole new light, and as he circled the craft, he discovered a newfound appreciation for it. He saw Achilles emerging from the path that led from the farmhouse to the river. The robot waved at him and he waved back as he glided down for a landing.

“Your punctuality is appreciated, young aviator. Have the others arrived yet?” Achilles asked as Breeze touched down.

He looked around and shrugged. “Don’t think so. I got up early to get a flight in.”

“Exercising and honing your skills, and doing so without being prompted. This humble bundle of circuits and servos must confess that it is pleased to hear this,” the robot said.

“And I saw that winged creature,” Breeze added.

Achilles froze in place, and then servos whirred as it looked up at the sky, then back to Breeze. “You refer to the harbinger?”

Breeze nodded as he filled in Achilles of what transpired above the clouds.

The robot blinked its eyes slowly. “Interesting indeed. First, Master Verhesen’s unfortunate turn of events several days ago. Now, your brush with the harbinger. I must ponder this.”

Breeze vividly remembered the day when he returned to the farmhouse with Achilles after his training session with the attack ships. Raza was in the kitchen and informed them of Ray’s possession and the events that unfolded inside the barn.

“You know, Achilles, I remember back home when my father took me to visit a neighbor of ours who was a rancher. My father climbed the fence of the corral and sat on the top rail and pulled me up to sit in his lap, and we watched as the ranch hands used ropes to corral the cattle. They would throw lassos at the heads of the cattle, loop them, and then tighten the noose. That’s the feeling I get, that the noose is getting tighter. No matter where we go, no matter what we do, the Elephim keep getting closer and closer.”

“What you are implying Master Corinth, with your usual subtlety, is that we are the cattle and they are the herders.”

“How hard is it to understand? From what you’ve been telling us, they wiped out the Helios and all the other freaks like us. If the Helios could get lassoed, branded, and then sent to the slaughter house, how hard is it to get us? You said the Helios were the greatest of all the paranormal and they were some sort of a super team. Well, where are they now?”

Achilles stared at him with glowing eyes.
Amazing how the boy can appear to be so dense, then surprise! Slices you like a knife. Leave it to him to summarize your predicament so eloquently. Cattle, indeed.

The robot clenched its fist tightly.
Begone, and do not molest me anymore with your commentary. It is neither helpful, nor constructive.

“Achilles, you okay there?” Breeze snapped his fingers.

“Yes, young man. Functioning at normal parameters.”

“It’s just that every now and then, you sort of…phase out.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, you like to clench your fist and go quiet. Are you having flashbacks about your fighting days at the arena?”

The robot looked at its fist and chuckled, then unclenched it and extended the fingers. “Slight mechanical error. Nothing to see here, young master. A simple fine tuning of my programming should suffice. Nothing more.”

They heard the sound of branches snapping and leaves crunching. They both turned to look as Raza, Sally, and Ray emerged from the tree line in their uniforms. Raza walked ahead of them while the teens were behind her and holding hands.

Raza smiled as she strode up to the robot and patted it on its shoulder. “You’re on time as always, Achilles. And I, running late as usual.”

“You should not be so hard on yourself, mistress. Your responsibilities have grown sevenfold since the arrival of these youngsters at your doorstep.”

“And yet, I wouldn’t give them up for the world,” she murmured.

Ray and Sally stood apart from everyone. Breeze casually strode up to them. “How are you feeling, Ray?”

“Fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?” He made brief eye contact with Breeze, and then looked away.

Sally spoke up. “He’s getting better, thanks for asking, Breeze. Did you get a flight in this morning?”

Breeze nodded and noted with disdain that she was holding Ray’s hand and squeezing it. “Yeah, I did,” he replied, and told them about the harbinger.

She quickly scanned the skies. “It didn’t try to attack you?”

“No, just pointed at the stars then took off. Didn’t want to scare you, just thought you should know.”

She rubbed his shoulder. “You were just being helpful,” she said with a smile.

Breeze straightened his posture and grinned while Ray glared at him.

Achilles broke up the scene. “Thank you for coming this early in the morning. I know from years of observation that humans tend not to perform at their peak at this time. Nevertheless, in light of recent events, this unit has concluded that we need to, as humans tend to phrase it, clear the air.”

Ray coughed and shifted his feet. Sally wrapped her arms around him and hugged tightly.

Achilles continued. “Due to the unfortunate events that have befallen Raymond, we can never fully gauge the depth as to which this group has been compromised. Should we continue to stay here? Do we relocate elsewhere? There is much to ponder and discuss.”

Breeze chimed in. “I think I can help speed things up a bit. I know a lost cause when I see one. I’m somewhat of an expert at it, it’s been the story of my life. I’m leaving.”

Sally gasped. Raza sighed and shook her head.

“So much for teamwork,” Ray grunted.

“Yeah, looks like you had a teammate with you the whole time,” Breeze shot back.

“Breeze, please reconsider,” Achilles stepped between them, “you have accomplished much, despite less than ideal conditions. Continue your training and realize your full potential.”

“Yeah…potential. Listen everybody; when I first arrived at Perihelion, I realized how far behind I was compared to everyone else. Ray and Sally went to good schools and came from rich families, whereas I was just some back country fool. I felt pretty small, but I did the best that I could. Although I learned a lot, I kept asking myself what it was all for. All the while, Oslo kept us in the dark and when we threatened to leave, he fed us some hocus pocus story about the past, and then we ran away from that place.”

Sally giggled nervously and immediately put a hand to her mouth. “Sorry. Just thinking about how that happened. We couldn’t wait to get out.”

“Exactly, only we got ambushed by the Elephim. We were rescued and returned to the island to deal with the ugly truth of what happened, and we realized that Oslo was just trying to protect us the whole time, but from what? If we had just stayed with our families in the first place and never went to Perihelion, would all of this have happened? Did Oslo just attract their attention by recruiting us?”

“Breeze, my husband had the noblest of intentions, and I can assure you that he never have had any desire to hurt any of you,” Raza said.

“Well, I understand that,” Breeze’s voice was tinged with anger, “but Raza, you should be one to talk. I’m sorry ma’am if I sound rude. You have shown us such great hospitality, even though our first meeting was pretty weird.”

Her face turned red. She folded her arms and stared at the ground.

He pressed on. “You have been hiding out here for such a long time and not attracting any attention, then we show up and it just turns into another mess. These Elephim obviously want us to stop, and I say, why not? What are we going to do? We don’t have what it takes to fight back.”

“Master Corinth, after all you have witnessed and learned, you do not wish to continue?” Achilles’ eyes glowed as it spoke.

“Continue to do what? After all this time, I don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing. What are we training for? What’s it all about?” Breeze shrugged his shoulders. “In the end, I’m just a simple guy. I’m going back home. I haven’t heard from my father and I need to see if he’s okay. You are all welcome to come with me. You guys could get jobs working at my father’s foundry, or go to Conception and settle there. Or stay here in Mount Pleasant and start over. It seems that thing that was spying on us through Ray really doesn’t know where we are. If everybody just blends in, they will probably stop hunting us down.”

“So give up and walk away, just like that? How can you be so selfish?” Sally wailed.

“I’m not, just being honest. I know when I’m out of my league and don’t stand much of a chance of getting ahead.” Breeze looked at Sally in the eye, then down to her hand holding Ray’s. “If I learned anything, it’s that there is no point in disrupting things, or getting between people.”

She shook her head and started to speak, when Raza stepped forward.

“I know how hard this has been on all of you, along with the changes you’ve been forced to experience. But that’s life. Breeze, how are you going to leave? You can’t just take the ship, it’s not yours. This ship belongs to Oslo, to Perihelion.”

Breeze tilted his head. “Well, ma’am, don’t know about that. I can always just fly away, take my chances over the Bad Lands, and find my way back home. But I could take the ship, and why not? The more I learn about it, seems like there is a family connection. I keep seeing my last name stamped on parts all over the ship.”

Achilles raised its hands. “Young aviator, I have cautioned you before regarding the matter. I am certain your name has no connection to the ship and is merely a coincidence. This vessel was built long before your time.”

“Yeah, don’t know about that. You seem like a mechanical version of Oslo, just holding back information all the time. I know I appear dense to you all, but I can put the pieces together, like why does my father run a scrap yard that just happens to sell steel to the local aerocraft builders. Coincidence? And this disc,” Breeze pulled out the diagnostic disc from his jacket, “recognized me as Jacob. Jacob is my father’s name.”

“Again, a coincidence. Nothing more,” Achilles said.

“Oslo told me a lot of things, and one of them was that there is no such thing as coincidence, all things happen for a reason.”

Achilles turned to Raza as she threw her hands in the air. “Very well then, leave. You’re right, who are we to keep you here? You’re not a prisoner.”

“A proposal, Master Corinth,” Achilles announced.

Breeze sighed. “What now?”

“Humor this ancient machine one last time. I would like the three of you to have one last training session, but this time as a team.”

Breeze laughed. “You just won’t give up. We weren’t meant to be together, how else can I say it? You have to know when to quit.”

“An incentive, perhaps? One last training session and at its conclusion, this unit pledges to render assistance in completing repairs on the ship so you may continue your journey home.”

“One last get together so that the team that never was can disband? Sure, I guess.”

“I’m for it too,” Ray broke his silence, “I know I let everyone down. I have a lot to prove to myself and to all of you.”

“Ray, listen, you don’t have to—”

“No, Breeze. I was supposed to be team leader, Oslo said as much. But I fell apart and looked at what happened to me. That…thing got into me and made me a puppet.” He shook his head. “You know, I have to admit it probably got into me before the trimaran accident, but I just don’t know how.”

“Well, you were messing around in the basement where that Bram guy was. Did you run into something down there and you just don’t remember?”

Sally glared at him. “Breeze how can you say that, you don’t know if that’s true.”