Tag: Sci-fi

Wheelchair Wars Part 3 (5)

It entranced him. The sheer scale of the human empire and all the different career opportunities in the army. So, he joined the Imperial Fleet and longed for war. At first, he thought that it would never happen, that all the battles were happening on the far edges of the Empire.

“But Trachtus five changed everything for me Timothy. Did you hear what happened there?”

“No, I didn’t,” Timothy replied, listening intently.

“A hole opened in the warp just outside the planet. The voices of chaos swayed the people and the 41st quadrant army against the Emperor. They were quickly reinforced by chaos marines. Such an abomination could not be allowed to stand.

We were sent to take back the planet. It was a very bloody experience, the resistance was fierce and durable. I lost so many good friends. I didn’t really understand war till then. Ninety percent of the population were against us.

As you will appreciate they all had to die. It was not something I had ever envisioned, killing women and children. other soldiers didn’t bother me. But it was the Emperor’s will.

I never hoped for war again because now I truly understood what it meant.”

Timothy noted the ominous tone in his voice.

Pegasus Part 36

Running furiously was not enough. I could hear its steps getting closer and closer and turned my head in despair.

Its mouth was opened wide and I thought its large teeth would be the last thing I’d ever see as it pounced on me. Then I heard what sounded like a gunshot. Blood splattered all over my face and body as its heavy body fell onto me.

Then I heard Tabitha screaming, “Are you okay Ciarán?”

Concern was etched into her voice.

She clasped my hand and between the two of us, I managed to get out from under the body.

“What happened?” I asked half dazed.

“I don’t know, they never gotten into this part before.

“Tabitha, is that you?”

A black man, not quite six tall holding a heavy machine gun was now standing just a few metres from us.

“Tahir?” Tabitha said under her breath.

Tabitha ran towards him and they embraced warmly.

This was the man that had saved my life but I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“Tahir, this is Ciarán. He saved me and helped get me here. He wants to join us.”

“Any friend of Tabitha is a friend of mine.”

He shook my hands firmly.

Then he said, “Come this way. It’s dangerous out here.”

Wheelchair Wars Part 2 (24)

Then one of the six-legged beasts jumped and landed in front of him. He opened up with his machine guns and the beast was cut down swiftly. It’s green blood splattering over his face. But more were coming. He continued firing as he reversed saving at least some of his minions.

The fortress’s heavy cannons had fallen silent now. Timothy launched some grenades from the back of the battle chair killing several of the enemy but still they came.

It gave him the time though to finally get inside the mine entrance as a large metallic door closed from overhead behind him. Immediately, he could hear the enemy hurling their bodies against it. In the dim light, he turned to assess his forces. Despite minimal losses, only a third of them, or thereabouts, had been wiped out so far, they seemed cowed. Expressions of astonishment and fear were written on their faces. All except for his veterans who had known what to expect.

“It won’t take them long to get through that door. Follow me, if you wish to live!”

He was leading them deeper into the abyss. They descended into the heart of the network before what sounded like a large explosion echoed through the cave structure. It was the sound of their protective heavy metal entrance being breached.

Pegasus (Sci-fi) Part 1

Year: 2452

I look out at the planet below me from my space station “Enceladus”. This is something I’ve done thousands of times previously, but I still marvel at its incredible beauty. The blue oceans, the white clouds and the occasional specks of green at the poles.

It’s beauty belies a harsh truth. What was once a planet teeming with life when I was born is after seven degrees of global warming, largely a lifeless hell. Large megacities clinging to existence in a poisoned, chastened world. The tides still come and go, but the seawater is a toxic acid. The great forests of the Amazon and the Congo, have long since turned to dust. The only life left at the equator is microbial.

Fuck them.

It could have been all so different. They could have listened and done something all those years ago. Not that I care, not really. The world’s disaster was my opportunity. Now, many of those miserable souls in their cramped, polluted cities pay their rent to me. It’s so beautiful. You see, if they don’t pay up they are kicked out to a certain death.

It took centuries for me to reach the top. I am what they call an “eternal”. I was born in Dublin in 1979. Now that I’m here, that’s where I intend to stay. Y ou see I heard about the threat to the planet all the way back in the 1980’s.

The Vacuum Catastrophe Part V (Sci-fi)

Candace couldn’t help but notice that Dr. Lenz was constantly fidgeting beside her. As if she wasn’t nervous enough already, she had never landed on an actual terrestrial planet before. She had always intended to visit Earth at some stage, “the cradle of humanity” but had never gotten round to it. There had been so much to see in the Solar System. He had personally requested that she was to go on the lander with him, she hadn’t decided to thank him yet. They were accompanied by six other marines plus the pilot. All, except Dr. Lenz were armed with heavy laser cannons and ultra dense armor plating.

They would be the first of ten landers on the planet. The atmosphere had been scanned, it was breathable. They were on their way to a desert area around the equator. The planet very likely contained life but this was not a biology excursion. They were to establish a parameter and then send a probe into the crust to obtain Negativum, which was vital to faster than light travel. For unknown reasons, to date it had only been found on terrestrial worlds where life had at least once existed. A huge statistical anomaly.

The lander started to rattle. They were entering the atmosphere. It was time for her to take charge of the situation.

“Right marines, you know the drill. Once we land we need to create a perimeter with defensive strong points. The mission is resource extraction but no harm must come to Dr. Lenz.”

Candace saw him squirm. He didn’t like being placed above others, an admirable trait.

Then they landed with a thud. The overhead green light began flashing and the hatch began to lower. The first thing to hit them was the putrid smell of rotting eggs from the methane rich atmosphere. The sky was crimson and the land mostly rocky. The laser felt light in her arms from the low gravity.

“Take up your positions!”

It was flat, there were no good defensive point but they could see reasonably far into the distance through the murky atmosphere. There were no signs of life apart from the odd dark leafed tree here and there. However some of the other landers had found themselves surrounded by giant herbivores who were throttling down pockets of dense vegetation.

Dr. Lenz got straight to work and began assembling the probe. Once she was confident, the situation was secure, she went to the scientist.

“Well that went well so far Dr. Lenz.”

“You can call me Herbert. Let’s just get this done and get out of here.”

“My name is Candace. What makes you so nervous?”

“Just different theories I heard over over the years. What sort of predators hunt these large herbivores we’ve been hearing about and why are there none around here?”

It wasn’t a nice line of thinking but she nodded in agreement.

Hours passed. The probes had now penetrated the crust, acquired their prize and making their return.

Then the first sign of trouble came over the comms.

(To be continued)

The Vacuum Catastrophe – Part 2 (Sci-fi)

From the moment Lieutenant Candace Winchester opened her eyes, she had a strange feeling about the timeline in front of her. Not in a warp could she have guessed what was about to happen, just a general, malevolent feeling. Not that many would have listened to her. At just sixty years of age, she was considered far too young to know much about anything by most. At times, it felt that the gerontocracy would prefer no young people whatsoever but there was always new space that needed colonizing, and hence a need for new humans. Still, she had managed to excel, and was now in charge of her squadron.

She had never known her parents as was the case for most of her generation, and was birthed or manufactured biologically on one of the many space habitats in orbit around the Earth. The rest of the batch became her surrogate family. It was a joyous childhood but short. She matched that cohort of intelligence and athletic ability that was assigned to the military.

This ultimately led her to being assigned to the Danu just a few months prior. She remembered the first time she took sight of it. It was giant, majestic with the large circular warp engine far off in the distance to the rear. However, nothing could have prepared her for the inside of the ship. Despite having a crew of over one thousand, one could walk its corridors and chambers for hours without meeting another soul. Parts of it were barren and cold, other parts luxurious with every conceivable manner of entertainment. At times, she would love to lose herself in one of the many virtual worlds.

Her squadron had only been informed of its mission two hours previously. To extract Dr. Lenz from the nearest star-base and to expect trouble. It was a high priority mission and space marines were to be fully armed. This was all very strange to her considering it was a friendly vessel.

However on disembarking from the Supply Vessel – nicknamed Maria and onto the floor of the Space Port, she was sure happy they came prepared. There were screams far off in the distance and the air smelt rotten.

Then she saw a man running towards her with a brief case. He was lean, athletic with blonde hair and shouting “Lt. Winchester!”.

“Dr. Lenz? Where is your security detail?”

“Long story, here is my ID. We better be off!’

The Vacuum Catastrophe – Part 1 (Sci-fi)

It had been going just like any other time cycle but it was one that Herbert would end up never forgetting. It was on Star Base 1580, which at that time was on a wide orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. He had spent many hours peering through his telescope at the beautiful white landscapes and the majestic cities that peppered them. He had always intended to visit and had always presumed that he would at some future date. Time had never entered his mind as being some sort of problem. He was already over four hundred years old and the horde of nanobots coursing through his veins should keep him going for many more years. And to worry about existence itself, well that would have just been daft.

Herbert was an expert in the field of negative energy. At times he had to pinch himself. Only two-hundred years prior the thought of a human being an expert in any field would have seemed totally ridiculous. But a small droid rebellion in a simulated world changed everything. The consciousness never realized that it could simply be plugged out. After that, a cap was placed on machine intelligence. Then, shortly afterwards with the invention of warp technology, that required negative energy, his field exploded in status.

Herbert was walking through the main corridor when he heard a familiar ping in his trouser pocket. It was bustling with people going to their work stations and just hanging around in conversation. He lifted it up to see where he was required – Epson Suite 16. The other end of the station. Now that was unusual and he quickly broke into a brisk walk.

His mind raced with what it could be about. As far as he could determine production was on track. He got on an empty rail-car to hurry himself along. It wouldn’t do to be late and anyway it gave him a chance to look up at the stars.

He heard his name being called just as he got out of the rail-car.

“Herbert Lenz?”

Much to his surprise, it was a soldier that was looking for him. His palm grew sweaty.

“Yes?”

“Please follow me.”

A few minutes later, he was led into a side room filled with generals and the civilian leaders of that space quadrant, all sitting in a semi circle. Fear and dismay were etched into their faces.

“Please sit down.”

The room fell silent. It is was President Azin. She had short, grey hair something very unusual in these times. The atmosphere was tense.

“Do you know who I am?”

Her voice was both piercing and authoritative.

With so many colonies and different tiers of government, most might not even recognise her but Herbert always made sure to stay on top of such things.

“There isn’t much time so I’m going to get straight to the point. You’re a learned man so you will probably understand this better than me. During the twenty-first century it was discovered that the Higgs field was at a point of instability, and what we considered to be The Universe was in the state of a false vacuum. Therefore, a quantum tunneling event, though thought to be very unlikely could bring the Universe into a new quantum state. It was thought that this would spread at the speed of light destroying everything it reached,

We were wrong.”

“Wrong?”

Herbert was unsure where this was going and why The President would want to discuss Science with him.

“Wrong.”

A holographic display of the Milky Way galaxy appeared over the table.” Yes, we were wrong. The effect is spreading far faster than the speed of light but not exponentially. Unfortunately, it has happened right in our galaxy. An expanding red circular area suddenly appeared and began to spread outwards.

There is only one hope for humanity – the spaceship Danu. Due to the accelerating expansion of the Universe, if you get far enough away humanity will be saved. You are to join the crew in Space Port One in six hours. Your expertise will be required. Now go, there isn’t much time.

With that, Herbert rose from his seat almost knocking it over in the process.