The Exiled Earthborn

Copyright © 2015 by Paul Tassi

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tassi, Paul.

The exiled earthborn / Paul Tassi.

pages ; cm. — (The earthborn trilogy ; book 2)

Summary: “Lucas and Asha’s continued survival hinges on gaining new allies they never could have imagined.”—Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-940456-38-6 (softcover) — ISBN 978-1-940456-47-8 (ebook) 1. Imaginary wars and battles—Fiction. 2. Extraterrestrial beings—Fiction. 3. Space warfare—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3620.A86E95 2015

813'.6—dc23

2015023690

Cover design by Paul Tassi, Victoria Maderna, and Fredrico Piatti

Printed in the United States of America

1

The war wasn’t over. Not yet.

Lucas was shaking. He couldn’t help himself. He’d faced battle after battle over the past few years, but never anything like this. Nothing could prepare him for the scene that lay before him.

How many did they say were out there? One million? Two? But the floating lenses around him were broadcasting to a hundred billion more.

He sat on a massive stage at the end of a long promenade. They told him they used to coronate kings there in the old days—back when monarchy was still an accepted form of rule. A few dozen massive statues of ancient warriors standing as tall as the giant trees in between them extended several miles out ahead of him. In the distance were the shining, colossal buildings that made up the heart of the sprawling city Elyria, the largest on the planet by far. It was balmy and felt like June in Portland. Before the world had ended, of course. They said it was always like this there, one of the many reasons it was chosen as the planet’s capital. White clouds floated far overhead, but the sun shone brightly, nearly twice as large as its counterpart on Earth. But fortunately it was only half as hot. It was afternoon, but the crescents of two moons could still be seen in the sky. The other three had long since disappeared from view.

Lucas looked down to the ground, where archaic cobblestone had been meticulously restored and assembled for this very occasion. His black shoes had no laces; his dark pants and high-collared coat had no buttons. He scratched the back of his neck, which still annoyed him hours after a haircut. His close-cropped buzz had grown out, and a team of stylists had spent an eternity making sure every sandy brown hair was perfectly in place. And that was after spending half a day in wardrobe to assemble the outfit that would introduce him to the world.

Next to him was Asha, who had spent twice as long with her groomers, though she didn’t need it. Her dark hair was done up in a series of elaborate braids that weaved in and out of each other like dueling serpents. Dark brown-and-gold makeup made her green eyes shine more brightly than ever. It was the most striking Lucas had ever seen her look, though that wasn’t saying much, considering she had been covered in blood and grime a good deal of the time he’d known her. She wore an all-white ensemble, a counter to his dark suit. Her dress was wrapped around her like a fabric puzzle, and it was hard to comprehend how it was sewn. Noticing his leg was bouncing up and down rapidly, she put her hand on his knee to steady him. He caught her eye and she smiled.

Behind them stood Alpha, getting uneasy looks from the press in the first few rows, and assuredly billions of others around the planet. He had refused any attempt at custom-knit clothes; such coverings were deemed silly in Xalan culture, outside of battle armor. And letting him wear
that
would send the wrong message. Rather, the stylists had to be content with polishing up his natural gray plating as best they could before he had shooed them away with an annoyed growl.

To Lucas’s right was Admiral Tannon Vale, the steely eyed soldier who had first picked them up when they entered the system. He’d since sprouted a light silver beard, and his chest was decorated with a pair of new accolades he’d won since they first met. A dozen more chairs around them were filled with military and political dignitaries. Lucas had heard many had been vying for a seat on the stage for months, promising all manner of payment and favors in order to be front and center at the most significant world event of their lifetimes.

High Chancellor Talis Vale, ruler of the entire planet of Sora, sat next to her younger brother. She rose as her undersecretary finished her introduction to the masses. Her blue eyes twinkled as she passed Lucas, and she briefly touched his and Asha’s shoulders on her way to the lectern. She wore a flowing pale emerald dress that fluttered in the wind behind her as she reached the center of the stage. A hush fell over the crowd like a wave, and even those miles away became deathly silent, watching their leader begin to speak on hovering monitors.

“Greetings, people of Sora,” she began. “Today marks a turning point not only in the Great War, but in our entire civilization’s history. Today we learn we are not alone in this fight, or in this universe. Today you will witness the beginning of a new era.”

Six months. That’s how long it had been since the fateful battle aboard the Ark. Well, six Soran months, each of which were twenty days that were thirty-seven hours long.

Despite the initial findings of Tannon Vale’s science team, it took an exceptionally long time for the travelers’ impossible story to be fully believed. A dead planet, an extinct race, and a trillion mile journey were too farfetched to be possible, no matter what the preliminary data said. The running theory became that they were some sort of Xalan science project—a covert-ops experiment attempting to replicate the creatures’ original ancestors, the Sorans. Lucas, Asha, and Noah were each kept in isolation for months as endless tests were run on their biology. They extracted spinal fluid, brain cells, muscle tissue, and all manner of other bits and pieces meant to prove their claims. It was fortunately a painless process, but Lucas feared for the state of his companions while he was allowed no information or contact with them for what seemed like an eternity.

They were questioned about Earth, and Lucas was forced to paint as clear a picture as he could of the world and its entire history from memory alone. His vivid description of the Xalan invasion matched their own wartime history, and only when the genetic tests had been verified twenty times over did they start to truly believe him. Alpha provided them with exact coordinates of Earth’s location, and they were able to catch their own glimpse of Lucas’s former world through their observation equipment, albeit a place more brown and gray than it appeared in records. They lacked the ability to travel there, as the only two white null cores on the planet up to the task were firmly entrenched in two still-dangerous Xalan ships, but it was enough for them to loosen their grip and allow Lucas to see his companions during the third month of captivity.

The first of his old crew members he saw was Alpha, who had been stripped of his mechanical hand but was allowed to keep his translator collar for questioning. He greeted Lucas heartily and began attempting to recount the past three months at such a rapid speed Lucas couldn’t keep up.

Next came Asha, who embraced Lucas fiercely when she saw him. Familiar feelings flooded back into him. She revealed nearly identical treatment at the hands of the Sorans, which had been firm and exhausting, but not abusive. But it was immediately apparent she was not pregnant, as she had been the last time he’d seen her. Before Lucas could open his mouth to ask, a new door opened.

Noah had been assigned a team of caretakers during his stay at the secret facility. Lucas was stunned to watch him led in by the hand by a nurse. The now much taller child toddled over to him and wrapped his tiny arms around his knee, his face beaming with a broad smile. At over a year old now, he’d taken his first steps in captivity without them.

The team led them to another secure area in the underground facility. When the sliding doors opened and he saw what was there, his heart soared in his chest. Asha saw the joy and relief on his face and smiled. Suspended in a tank in front of them was a small child. Well, the shape of a child. It was a fetus, three months old, connected to tubes and wires as it floated, suspended in the fluid. It was his child. Their child.

Natural childbirth had been outlawed for the last few hundred years on Sora. Fertilized eggs were extracted from the mother shortly after conception, and the children were birthed in units like the one that stood before them. Mortality rates of both mothers and infants became almost nonexistent. In the tanks, the children were laced with genes that would prevent all manner of future diseases and disabilities. Tears welled in Lucas’s eyes as he stood in front of the tiny shape; they spilled over onto his cheeks when Asha told him it was a boy.

There was a sect that still didn’t trust the three of them, and everyone was having a hard time believing Alpha was the first Xalan to truly turn traitor in centuries. But the waves and waves of scientific and tactical knowledge he bestowed upon the Sorans began to increase their goodwill toward him. He detailed the process of how the long-range white null cores were made, and though it would take at least a decade to properly synthesize the necessary element, the science team set to work under his instruction almost immediately to get the process started. The revelation that Xalans had conquered worlds like Earth and were using them for resources filled in many gaps in the military’s knowledge. It had long been a mystery how they had sustained the war for millennia with such a resource-poor planet as Xala.

At long last, the Sorans realized they couldn’t argue with the science anymore. The subtly different DNA, the vision of Earth, the tomes and tomes of knowledge about the colony planets and Xala itself. Either it was the most elaborate, intelligent infiltration plan in Xalan history, a race of vicious creatures known for their brute force approach to warfare, or these strange visitors were telling the truth. Their cells became more comfortable, their meals more edible (it was miraculous to have solid food again, even if Lucas recognized nothing on his plate), and a dangerous decision was made. They would get their wish. They would meet Talis Vale.