Category Archives: Book 14: The Galaxy Core Device

Arc 14.1.5: If Found Please Return

If Found, Please Return: Part 4

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Nataw’s eyes widened, “That’s not good at all. I didn’t mean… Do we have to destroy them now? I don’t want to.”

Lee sighed, using his extended Abominator fingers to press the final series of buttons to turn the field off, “No. It would cause too many problems. If we destroy the Abominators, we’ll have to fly all over the galaxy to kill them all. No great loss, but it’ll attract attention from Destroy and then it’ll be a family thing and we don’t need that. Besides, I’ve already set up a species that should be able to handle them. It’ll be untraceable and look like the natural consequence of poking around where you shouldn’t.”

Pressing the last button, Lee heard a whisper of white noise as the machine stopped working. He turned around, returning to the human form he’d had before. Continue reading If Found, Please Return: Part 4 →

Arc 14.1.5: If Found Please Return

If Found, Please Return: Part 3

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Nataw smiled at him, “I wasn’t worried. I knew you’d be by eventually. It isn’t all about winning or losing. There are some things you only learn by mistake. Besides, even if they held me captive for a thousand years, what of it? What’s a thousand years? It isn’t even as if they had all of me. All I have to do is discorporate and embody myself again in this universe.

“I’m fine.”

Lee raised an eyebrow, “You’re fine? You can discorporate in the middle of that?” Continue reading If Found, Please Return: Part 3 →

Arc 14.1.5: If Found Please Return

If Found, Please Return: Part 2

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“His name?” I asked, “who was that guy?”

Daniel nodded, “Constantine Doukas. He’s Greek. He appears to have been raised in one of the Cabal’s hidden colonies. The Nine had some kind of connection to that colony and he ended up fighting us, but here’s the interesting thing—the Nine have their own power impregnators. He went through one and the ability to do that appeared.”

“No shit,” Cassie pushed back from the table. “I don’t know if I told you this, but the first time I fought the Nine, the time Nick picked me up in Washington D.C., I fought another orange guy. He wasn’t the same. He was more spider-like with glowing orange legs that contained some kind of hot liquid? Think they’re related?”

“No idea,” I said, glancing over at Daniel. Continue reading If Found, Please Return: Part 2 →

Arc 14.1.5: If Found Please Return

If Found, Please Return: Part 1

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I wouldn’t have given any thought to the man if I’d seen him on the street—brown haired, shorter than average, wearing red sweatpants and a white t-shirt that advertised a brand of pop.

I might have had a question about the sweatpants. They had stains.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jaclyn and the final mobile Cabal soldier. Somewhere in the middle of our fight, she and the Cabal soldier had stopped facing off and started fighting. Continue reading If Found, Please Return: Part 1 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 11

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The creature bellowed and all eight arms flailed, but it didn’t fall. The lightning hit and the creature’s body absorbed it.

Bits of electricity whirled around its arms before disappearing.

Still impossible to understand, the giant’s mouth opened and shrieked, but that wasn’t the attack. The attack came in the form of lightning thrown from its hands. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 11 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 10

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I stumbled sideways, realizing that Haley crouched underneath the soldier’s punch.

She didn’t stay there. Even as I realized what was happening, she was already punching back—and upward.

Hitting him in the middle of his diaphragm, she’d have killed a normal person with her strength and winded even some of the tougher supers. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 10 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 9

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Though the scream consumed most of my mind, enough was free to notice the splatter of blood and brains and know that that it could be me next.

Despite what I might have hoped, that knowledge did not give me the strength to pull my mind together and concentrate enough to resist it.

Whatever shields Daniel and his parents put in and maintained in my mind weren’t helping either. They were designed to prevent someone from breaking in. The orange man’s scream was more of a psychic electrocution. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 9 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 8

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Urin dropped it into my hand. The outside felt as smooth as it looked and I felt a prickle of energy.

I considered trying to interact with it more, but I wasn’t skilled enough with anything Artificer-related to do it casually.

Looking up from it, I asked, “What is it? Do you know who made it?”

Glancing up from my hand with a frown, he said, “I was hoping for more of a reaction from it. Very well. I don’t know anything for sure, but my assumption when I got it was that either the Abominators made it or that it had been made by the Artificers and found by the Abominators. It was supposed to help find the Artificers’ creations.” Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 8 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 7

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Around us, reality changed.

We, and this we meant not just Uri and me, but also the rest of the team, now stood in a room with the same marble, the same forest on one side, and the same beach and ocean on the other.

In addition, new people were also in the room—guards who dressed in suits and wore guns, guards whose armor and weapons would have been at home on the cover of a Dungeons and Dragons rule book, and people with a mixture of the two styles—plate mail, a sword, and an automatic rifle for example.

It felt different too. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 7 →

Arc 14.1.0: Before Midnight

Before Midnight: Part 6

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I said, “I assume you’re talking about Magnus, but are you saying there are even more than that? Oh, and who are you?”

He laughed, “I’ve had many names dating back farther than I care to explain. For now, call me Uri. It’s nice to meet you finally, Nick, but let’s skip the rest of the introductions. We don’t want to waste time.

“Your friends are talking to other people right now. They’ll cover the same topics, but I wanted to meet you.”

I wanted to ask him why, but he didn’t stop talking. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 6 →