Read The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) Online

Authors: Adrian Fulcher

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The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) (5 page)

BOOK: The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1)
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There was a torch and finally a large brass key which was slightly worn.

At the bottom of the box James discovered a sealed envelope and a piece of folded notepaper with writing on it. The handwriting started off neat but degenerated into scrawl. The note was in Carol’s handwriting, and James suspected that she had finished it just before her death.

‘Son, you must forgive me for not telling you this face to face,’
James read. ‘
What you’re about to read will seem unbelievable, even impossible, but you must believe me; it’s not fiction. We were waiting for your twentieth birthday, but now both Lex and I have passed on to another place you must now know the truth. James you must return home…’

James stopped for a moment remembering what Carol had said just before she passed away. He thought,
but I am home, what can she mean?

‘…It’s been fifteen years since we made this planet our home. It was an ideal hiding place for us, because our form is identical to that of the humans. However, there was one problem; we found that we couldn’t risk becoming sick. Any Earth virus we contract could kill us, with a 50/50 chance of survival. I know this sounds like I’ve lost my mind, but you must believe me. It’s the reason Lex died all those years ago and why I’m dying now. You always wondered why we had to live out here and why I would never see any of your friends. I’m sorry, James, but it was too much of a risk for me. Think back; when did you last have a cold—’

James stopped once more.
I can’t remember, but I must have.

‘—We thought at first that you would run the same risk like us. That’s why I had to keep you away from everyone and why Lex and I often wore masks—’

Those funny masks,
James thought.
That’s why.

‘—But when you were eleven years old I realised that your body had adapted. James, you are immune to Earth viruses. I discovered that the younger you are the more chance your body has to overcome Earth’s bacteria and adapt to prevent illness. If we had been younger, then we would have developed some resistance also, but unfortunately Lex and I were just too old. I’m afraid that no doctor on this planet will be able to save me; this time my luck has run out. My name is really Karunet, yours is Jameilo and our real surname is Brasdoi—’

James went on reading, although in disbelief.


There’s a planet, on the far side of the galaxy, over one hundred and forty-three thousand light years away, called Qintaino. It’s in a system we call Ulio. That’s where you really belong. We’re called Qinants…’

James paused.
I know those words. Qintaino… Qinant… Ulio... But from where,
he thought.

‘No, it can’t be!’ he said out loud.

He quickly picked up the two cartridges and read the writing on the pearlescent green one once more.

‘“BAL OUF LOVAXYISPID”. That means KOMPUTRONIC DATA KEY.’

He looked at the bright red one.

‘“FTOEF RISEWTAQ”… means PERSONAL DIARY.’

He sat back in the armchair.
How do I know that? I don’t understand, but that is what the words mean. How could that be possible, unless…

James placed the cartridges on the table and continued to read the note.

‘—Our world was smaller than Earth, but just as beautiful. We had two stars, so it was always light and warm—’

James thought,
but Carol has written this like it was in the past.

‘—It was a peaceful place until the Treitans entered our galaxy. I don’t know where they came from, only that they attacked us without provocation. They gave us no warning. Our ships were far superior to theirs, but we were heavily outnumbered. When Lex and I left Qintaino it was under heavy bombardment; we were losing.

Lex was in the planetary defence and exploration force. He was ordered to take the Aurora, an unfinished prototype ship, to a safe place and return when it was completed. The ship only just had its event horizon drives enabled to travel at light speed. We hid the ship and finally located this planet we now know as Earth where we could live undetected, while the ship was being completed.

We were able to find a source of rare metals which this planet values very highly on the far side of their moon. With the technology available to us, we extracted platinum and gold, and we were able to learn their language and culture by monitoring their primitive radio and television.

When we arrived on Earth authorities started to ask questions. Like, where did we come from? So Lex had to access the computer systems here on Earth and create a past for us…’

James paused and smiled to himself.
Dad was a hacker.

‘…So as not to attract any more attention we bought this cottage.’

The writing suddenly became more uneven and harder to understand.

‘Unfortunately Lex contracted an Earth illness and died before the ship was completed. I was too old to pilot the ship, so you are the last hope, James. I knew that if we had told you this before now, you would have wanted to go back before you were ready. James, the Aurora is safe, but you are barely old enough to pilot her. Your mind is still too young.

You must promise to do something for us. You must now return home to Qintaino to help our people. There’s an envelope with this letter. Please open it and follow the instructions within—’

James glanced down at the envelope on the table.

‘—You must listen to Kalrea; she will protect and tell you anything you need to know. We love you…’
The writing was now too disjointed and broken up to make any sense.

James was shell-shocked, but also intrigued by what he had just read. He poured himself a glass of whisky and went over to the bureau to find a letter opener. He looked under the many piles of papers and noticed some of his father’s old books hidden at the back. He glanced at the titles and smiled. They were all about a spaceships, which had supposedly visited Earth.
UFOs
, he thought.
I could be an alien!

James sat down again and read the note once more, pondering over each sentence while he drank. He also recalled the last words Carol had said. His mind was full of unanswered questions.

Who’s Kalrea?
Is she related?
Where’s the Aurora if it exists? And how do I know that strange language? Carol’s last words were; Kalrea must read the diary. I do have a red diary, but there was no mention of it in the note. Maybe she was affected by the illness or delirious? But what if it’s all true? Then I must find our people.

There were too many unanswered questions, and he had nothing to remain here for.

Carol’s name is really Karunet, mine’s Jameilo,
James thought as he glanced through the note.
I’m never going to get used to a strange name like that. I’m not even sure how to pronounce it.
He smiled to himself.
It does seem incredible; no, impossible, but maybe my life is not what it seems. Perhaps there’s a reason for all this and my life still has a meaning. A direction! There’s one way to find out.

James took a deep breath and carefully opened the envelope with the knife. He removed and unfolded the sheet contained inside. At the top of it was printed the heading, ‘
GUARDIAN AURORA’
. There were just three brief typed instructions. James turned the paper over to look on the other side which was blank.
There must be more,
he thought and looked quickly inside the envelope, before returning to read the three instructions.

The first read: ‘
Wear the telementor on your wrist. It only protects when worn. Never remove it.’

That must be the black watch,
James thought.

He removed his own.

As he was about to fasten the telementor on his right wrist, a tingling sensation rushed up his arm, catching him by surprise. He jumped and dropped the telementor which bounced across the table and onto the floor.

‘What the—,’ he said, his heart beating fast.

James waited a moment before gingerly picking it up once more. He studied it closely before nervously fastening it to his wrist. The symbol on the face of the telementor changed its colour to orange, and a tingling sensation swept throughout his body. He had never felt anything like this before. His heart quickened once more as he realised that what Carol had written to him was true. He felt an excitement tempered with apprehension: that same feeling he had after passing his driving test. There was a world out there to explore, but only if he dared to go.

The second instruction gave the coordinates of a location to be visited only at night, equipped with just the box, its contents and a few possessions.

James went to the bureau once more and rummaged around to find a local map. He laid it out in front of him on the table. He wished he had paid more attention to Carol when she was teaching him Geography all those years ago. His first attempt at the reference ended up in Lake Ullswater. He said to himself,
that can’t be right, I’d better check again.
The location was actually on the side of one of the nearby mountains about five miles away in an old abandoned quarry.
Just as well I rechecked
, he thought.
I hate swimming!

The final instruction read, ‘
The key will give you access to the mine and the telementor access to the shuttle.’

Shuttle,
he thought.
That could be the Aurora.

James was tired, so he decided that he would travel up to the mountain the following evening, leaving one full day to prepare him for whatever lay ahead.

That night, whilst lying in bed thinking and reading the note again, James could have sworn he heard a quiet voice in his head.

It said,
I’m here.

I must be imagining it because I’m tired
, he thought and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Six

James had been excited all day and could not wait to start the journey up to the mountain. Not knowing how long he was going to be away made it very difficult to decide on what to take. The instructions said ‘take few possessions,’ so he could hardly take the kitchen sink! He packed into a sports bag a change of clothes, some snacks, the map, the box with its contents and a few photographs of Carol, Lex and the cottage.

James took one last look around the cottage, going from room to room. He entered the living room.
There’s something about that picture,
he thought, looking at the magnogenic canvas of the flowers over the fireplace.
I shouldn’t take anything else, but I do like it. Carol liked it too.
He removed it from the wall, turned it off and placed it in the sports bag.
It will remind me of home.

James locked the front door and walked slowly across to the car. He glanced up at the full moon which was slowly being obscured by some grey clouds and noticed that the wind was starting to strengthen. Just before he started the car to leave, he sighed and took one last lingering look back at the cottage.

It feels strange, but it’s almost like I’m going on a camping trip to the Pennines or Cumbrian mountains and will be back in a few days. But this may be the last time I see the cottage. It looks almost abandoned.

Using roads and a narrow track, James drove to half way up the mountain, but from there he had to walk the last half-mile up a steep slope. The sky was now overcast, and the wind was blustery and bitterly cold. There was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, and occasionally he could hear the distant noise of wild animals, carried by the swirling wind. He used the torch from the box, but it was difficult for him to see his way over the uneven paths, carrying the sports bag.

James took a deep breath. The air felt fresh and sweet. He paused for a moment in the shelter of some rocks and looked at the dark expanse of countryside below him. On the horizon there was a light-orange glow from the nearby town of Penrith.

It’s so peaceful up here. I wish I’d explored this mountain years ago,
James thought.
It would be great in the summer.
He stopped to look straight ahead and lowered his head, looking down towards the ground.
I wish you were here too. You’d love this place, Mum.
His mind wandered back to the cottage. He pictured the hillside and the flowers he left on Carol’s resting place.

Suddenly there was a sound from behind the rocks. James flashed the torch across their surface. When the wind abated, a rustling noise rose above the wind. Then, from the darkness, a solitary fox slowly appeared; it stopped to look into the light, staring through it, before walking slowly away.

I’d almost forgotten why I’m up here
, he thought, looking again around the valley.

James continued on the winding track until he reached a fork.

Hell, where do I go now?
He rubbed his hands together trying to generate some warmth.
The quarry can’t be far away, but I could be up here hours and still not find whatever I’m supposed to be looking for.

He just started walking down one of the tracks when ‘Aaargh!’ James shouted.

The telementor had suddenly turned ice-cold, surprising him.

Strange
, he thought, but then it got colder and colder the further down the path he walked.

It’s seems to be telling me something. I’m going the wrong way!
With that James turned around and walked briskly back to the junction in the path. The telementor warmed up again.

‘At least something knows where I’m going,’ he muttered.

James approached a rocky clearing near the top. It was the old abandoned quarry.

It definitely knew where I was going.

All James could hear was the wind howling around the quarry basin. He looked at the many rock faces stretching in front of him. The moon had momentarily broken free from its dark prison of clouds. Jagged light shone onto part of the quarry, illuminating some of the rocks in various shades of grey and silver. A large dark shadow stretched across the basin floor.

James shone the torch around, following the contours of the quarry, looking for a door. He walked for a couple of minutes, quickly cooling from the energetic walk, before noticing a boarded up entrance to an old mine set far back and partially hidden by a distant rock.

James hurried over and tried the key from the box. It fitted, turned to unlock, but the door would not budge. He shone the torch at the hinges to determine which way the door opened, before throwing himself at it. The door swung inward with a deafening screech of discomfort. He could have sworn the symbol on the telementor changed colour for a second when the door opened.

Shining the torch into the darkness revealed a passage disappearing ahead. James walked nervously in.

I don’t want to be here,
James thought to himself.
I wish I wasn’t alone.

‘Don’t wo-ry… you’re saf
e,’ a faint, broken voice replied in his head.

‘Who’s there?’ James said out loud, but there was no reply.

Now I really am imagining things,
he thought.

James started to walk along the passageway, which became steeper the further he went into the mountain. The sound of the wind outside faded slowly away and was replaced by the sound of dripping water from the ceiling. His footsteps echoed along the passageway.

He approached a junction that split in three directions. Using the torch he could see that one of the passageways only went a few metres, ending in a rock fall.

Which way now?
James thought, feeling the telementor.

‘Wait!’
the faint voice replied in his head.

Suddenly the telementor glowed white, and his body was surrounded by a halo of yellow light, startling him. Then, a beam of light leaped out and struck the fallen rocks at the end of the blocked passageway. They glowed brightly and disappeared before his eyes. The telementor returned to normal.

James was frightened by the experience. His heart thumped; he was ready to run a mile.

Well that told me
, he thought trying to compose himself. He took a deep breath before slowly walking through where the rocks had been. The temperature rose when he passed. Shining the torch ahead revealed that the passageway went a little further before stopping once more. It was a dead end.

James shook his head. He was about to turn when he heard a thud that echoed around the passage. The interior of the cave lit up and there, just in front of him, was what looked like a helicopter. It was similar to a Jetranger and completely black. What was strange was that he had shone the torch straight at it before and, yet, had not seen it.

He stood admiring the sleek lines of the helicopter. It had no visible windows and there was also something else missing. The rotors! He suddenly realized that this was the shuttle he was looking for. The shuttle was generating a light within the cave. Cobwebs and dirt on its casing cast shadows onto the rocky walls all around. He looked up, but even with the torch could not make out the roof of the cave. He wondered how he might get onboard and remembered the final instruction:
The telementor will give me access to the shuttle
.

He looked at the telementor on his wrist.
I wonder how it works,
he thought, pressing its face, but nothing happened.

James moved towards the shuttle for a closer inspection. Running his hand over the smooth casing, he could just feel a faint line of a large door, and where a handle might have been was a small white symbol at waist height. When the telementor passed close to the symbol, a very soft hum started to emanate from within the shuttle.

The door moved towards him. James’ heart quickened and he jumped backward. Slowly the side of the shuttle opened out.

James peered hesitantly inside. There were two seats in the centre, one behind the other. There were no visible controls, just a black slanted panel at the front. Looking around he thought,
everything’s black!
His colourful clothes and bag looked out of place.

James looked back along the passage way. His heart was urging him to abandon this adventure and return to the cottage, but his mind was full of unanswered questions. The things he had already seen were definitely not from this Earth, but what would happen if he entered the craft? There was only one way to find out for sure, so he nervously climbed onboard.

There are no instructions. How am I supposed to fly it?

As soon as he was inside, the door shut softly and the bottom quarter of the black panel illuminated many rows of white symbols. Suddenly, a beam of blue light scanned the interior of the craft and James. The telementor symbol flashed many colours before returning to orange.

James was extremely uneasy.

There was then silence for about ten seconds, before a soft whine could be heard all around. Some of the white symbols on the black slanted panel flashed, and the top half of the panel became an illuminated monitor, displaying a view from the front of the shuttle. The message, ‘
PLEASE SIT DOWN JAMEILO’
was flashing in the centre.

James took a quick look around before sitting in the front seat. He nervously clenched his fists, repeatedly rubbing his knuckles together.

The monitor showed that the cave wall was moving by, and he realized that the shuttle was rising up and gathering speed. Then, there was darkness. The external lights had turned off. James felt a slight bump when the shuttle crashed through a thin layer of solid rock which made up the roof of the cave.

The shuttle rose rapidly into the night sky. He could now see the dark countryside spread out below. The distant lights of villages and snaking major roads soon faded away.

Frightened by the speed at which everything was happening, James instinctively reached for the seat belt, but to his surprise there were none. He gripped the arms of the seat firmly.

The shuttle passed through Earth’s atmosphere and then gracefully rotated about its axis.

He thought to himself,
I wish I could look back at the Earth.

With that, the monitor changed its view to the rear, placing the Earth at its centre. Transfixed, James watched the shuttle glide effortlessly away from the planet, which was suspended between light and darkness. The cloud formations of swirling patterns of white and greys over the blue-green oceans below made him take a deep breath. He felt a lump in the back of his throat.

Sunlight glinted off the International Space Station, floating peacefully in the distance. The shuttle now accelerated at an alarming rate, heading into the unknown.

The acceleration was so smooth that only the movement of the stars indicated to James the speed at which he was now travelling. He felt a deep sadness watching the Earth fade into the darkness.

Goodbye, Mum… Dad. I will come back
, James thought.

As the sun came into view the monitor darkened.

The sun’s so beautiful,
he thought.

The monitor switched instantly, positioning the sun at its centre.

What the…!
James realised that he was changing the view on the monitor by what he thought.
Wow! How am I doing this? Amazing! Maybe it’s my hand on the arm rests.
He held them up and then thought of Earth again. The monitor changed to display Earth at its centre.
No way! How’s it doing that?
He looked around for a camera.
How does it know where I want to look? It’s like the monitor works by telepathy.
In fact, James found that by concentrating on any direction he could view it on the monitor. The side views made him feel a bit of motion sickness.

He watched the sun fade into the background of stars and gradually relaxed his grip.

This is incredible,
he thought.
I’m in a real spacecraft with amazing technology, travelling through space. It’s like being in a science fiction program on television. I wonder where I’m heading.

A voice in his head suddenly replied, ‘
you’re going to Lavmino.’

James was startled. It was the voice of a girl, although its clarity was constantly changing.
Whoa! Hold on a minute. Now it’s talking to me in my head,
he thought.

‘Who’s that…? I mean there!’ he said.

‘Hello Jameilo, I’m h…e waiting,’
the voice answered in his head. ‘
I’m Kalrea.’

Kalrea
, James thought, remembering Carol’s words.
You must listen to Kalrea
.

‘Why h…ve I got to listen t… myself?’
Kalrea seemed puzzled.

‘No, I didn’t mean that… I was just thinking,’ James replied.

‘That could be dangerous.’

‘Where are you?’ James asked, expecting the shuttle to respond in some way.

‘Lavmino.’

With that, the monitor changed to a star chart showing Earth in relation to Lavmino. The distance between them was just under four point three light years.

BOOK: The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1)
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