Flight of Man... Book Three: The Sol Reunion

FLIGHT OF MAN

Tales of spirit, determination and the challenges of life on the red planet! The three parts are set on Mars in the twenty-third Earth century… if Earth had survived.

Book One

THE EDEN SOLDIERS

Book Two

SATURN’S VANGUARD

Book Three

THE SOL REUNION

A thought-provoking story of the habitation of the planets, the artificial atmosphere, trees and forest, with grass and streams built from the wind-blown, rock-filled deserts.

Colonies are established on Mars, food is grown and a sophisticated economy is established.

As man adjusts so do the animals and other

terrestrial creatures with breathtaking results. Some of the new life came not from Earth and now war and peace have new meanings…

The Flight of Man… first to Mars, then Saturn…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Canadian writer and author, Andrew Bell was born and bred in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. His strong and active imagination has resulted in the trilogy – The Flight of Man – a novel of life and its challenges on Mars. Eden Guard, the first book in the series, is set in the year 2251.

Back on Earth, Andrew studied commerce, majoring in accounting. A strange combination – an imaginative accountant! After a variety of jobs, writing now occupies his life. He continues to live in Alberta with wife Kristine.

Copyright © 2012-15 Andrew Bell

Published by

All the characters are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH …NASA 2011-12

FLIGHT OF MAN

Book Three

SOL’S REUNION

by Andrew Bell

Did the war come to us or has it been following us since the dawn of time?

The Landran and Bregan came to our world with conflict on their minds, although we needed little help to start fighting. Members of our race chose to side with one faction or another while others plotted to turn the fighting to their advantage.

A three front war can never be won from the middle. Our only hope is to run, further this time. Our friends and family are failing our species. If we must roam the stars alone in order to survive then so be it.

Can we find a home? Can we be safe?

We’ll be damned if we’re not going to try!

PROLOGUE

Escaping planetary obliteration launched mankind in several directions of preparedness. Everyone agreed changes were coming to the Terran Empire, big changes. Scientists planned for expansion and new wonders to take them to the stars and broaden their knowledge base like no single event before. The fearful sought to huddle on a single rock amongst the stars as a way to shelter themselves and were going to do whatever it took to make that happen.

No one side was fully aware of the real changes coming toward Earth. Single individuals of no importance did see this approaching future but were secluded one way or another, by one side or the other. One group would emerge from the changes to Earth as the dominant group. Many I told you so’s would be said in the near future.

Wednesday, August 19, 2201 – Low Earth Orbit

The outer observation lounge of the beta wing of Ambra Station in high Earth orbit offered the best view of the planet. It was also the largest room on the space station that was not a cargo bay. This space was perfect for Dr. Ikem Haradyn’s presentation for the Imperial Colonial Ministry.

He had lined the ceiling with holographic projectors pointed to the floors, walls and even the windows. On the floors he set up actual models of the colony projects he was going to push with paths left for his guests to wander around once they arrived, if they arrived. The Ministry had not even been openly taken with his idea for the extra colonial funding.

He hoped the majesty of mother Earth slowly drifting past the windows would be enough to distract the dignitaries from the dollar signs at the bottom of the proposal. Ikem was not the slightest bit impressed by the blue, green and white swirls outside but rather the flickering digital red rock and dust displaying on the models in the room. Here it was, Mars as the engineers experienced it now out there. When the ladies and gentlemen with the cheque books arrived he would flick the switch in his hand and this world would turn into one more beautiful than that over-used rock outside.

He was kneeling over a small swirling cyberdust storm when the door to the observation lounge slid open to reveal four skeptical looking people led by Dr. Haradyn’s assistant. Their suits of unidentifiably light-colored fabric were bathed red by the holographic projectors. Ikem almost burst out laughing at how uncomfortable they looked when they realized their change of attire. Instead he smiled wide as he stood and swept an arm toward the arrangement across the room.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our Mars!’

‘This had better not be the extent of your presentation doctor,’ the older of the two men of the group said. The greying at his temples looked like fire in this room.

‘Not at all sir,’ Ikem kept smiling, ‘Okay, let’s begin. This is what the Ministry has been able to do with the terraforming process so far in the last fifty years. That is to say, not much.’

‘I’ve been to Mars, doctor. There’s not much to work with,’ the younger of the two lady ministers said. Dr. Haradyn thought her name was Eddley or something like that.

‘Not quite true. The building blocks are there. With this proposal,’ Ikem nodded to his assistant to signal him to distribute the display pads with the project outline, ‘We will be able to supercharge the terraforming evolution to less than twenty years!’

‘You’re joking,’ said the older ministry gentleman.

‘Simply, no,’ Ikem stared him down a moment then raised his hand with the projector control and snapped the easily moving switch as if it required a sledgehammer.

Six people stood on a digital and plastic mock-up of the red planet with the blue-green glow of Earth showing how ridiculous they looked and out of place for the first few moments. It seemed like the presentation was malfunctioning except for Dr. Haradyn just standing in the middle of the room. Slowly small bits of the room began to change. First, the swirls of dust fell to the flickering ground then the artificial crater and valley along the interior wall began to fill with a dark fluid.

‘Is that water?’ asked the older of the two women. She repeatedly glanced at her display pad for reference as she walked through small mountains to the growing sea.

‘This isn’t real though, right?’ the younger man asked, marvelling at the artificial sky as it changed from dusty red to a clear powder blue.

‘You have the math in the pads in your hands. It’s been checked a thousand times by your own computers,’ Dr. Haradyn strode toward the delegation on a growing field of green. ‘Simply sign the bottom of each of your pads and we can begin the transformation.’

The men were quick to sign as clouds drifted over lush fields and through their bodies. The elder lady minister was transfixed by a waterfall over a crater’s edge and did not even notice she had signed. The younger lady minister, Eddley, hesitated while walking to the window looking back to the Earth windows. It was a long moment before she turned back to Ikem with her finger over the signature button.

‘I’ll agree to this plan with one condition of my own,’ Robin Eddley said.

‘By all means Minister,’ Ikem was not really interested in her reasons but it would not matter what she wanted as long as she signed.

‘I want to be on the colonial council,’ she puffed op her chest.

That was it? He was talking about building a world within a lifetime and she wants to be on a council. He did not care about the politics after he made the planet. This was too easy. ‘Absolutely, I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

‘Excellent,’ she was all smiles as she hit the signature button.

‘Excellent, excellent,’ Dr. Haradyn hit a second switch on his remote as soon as Junior Minister Eddley signed the display pad. Unlike the start-up, the shutdown was instantaneous. In a flash the six were left in a nearly empty lounge with only a few white mounds and bowls of plastic arranged on the grey carpet. The only colour filtering into the room, onto the ministers’ light grey suits was from the ever present globe outside.

As before Ikem did not care about the beautiful blue and green planet and now that he had dazzled the dollars out of the diplomats he did not care about them either. He waved to his assistant to follow before moving to leave the politicians. He did not make it halfway before the second Junior Minister grabbed his arm.

‘Before you leave us Dr. Haradyn,’ the young man started, ‘I noticed that at the bottom of the consent form you got us to sign there was a secondary section included.’

‘Ah yes, there was an expansion stipulation, Minister…’

‘Minister Idolan. It says that all possible resources are to be used to secure a second colony location. What does that mean?’

‘Well sir, we have a colony ship with an FTL drive that does not work so we should put it to use. Further, the terraforming material from space that is going to be used to build mars will only last a couple years. So, if we are to build another rapid colony we need to launch that ship and find a place to land it.’

‘Does that mean all of our telescopes, doctor?’ Minister Eddley asked.

‘Indeed, the more we use the less time it will take, and we should launch the ship as soon as possible.’ Ikem waited a moment for another question but none came. He turned and left before they could think of one and made as many mental notes as he could to not do this again if possible.

Thursday, January 12, 2226 – Chile, South America

Nikia Pero had always wanted to be swept away to a fancy hotel room by a handsome stranger but not like this. She paced in this ornate hotel suite non-stop since she arrived at four o’clock that afternoon. Even though the king-sized bed looked soft and welcoming after the six hour flight from Hawaii there was no way her head was going to hit the pillow. She trampled the powder blue carpet flat in a tight circle around the coffee table. Now at ten in the evening she imagined that the floorboards would start to show before the men in the grey uniforms that welcomed her into this room would turn up again.

All she wanted to do was have her name put on a new star she had found instead they flew her to somewhere in Chili on the fastest plane she had ever been on with all her data in tow. Almost the minute she landed she was tossed into this very nice hotel that now seemed to double up as a prison cell.

Nikia knew the Empire was having some trouble with dissidents but those rebel plots and acts of sabotage had nothing to do with her, yet here she was. For the simple crime of using her own telescope to look around the stars for something other than another colony site she had been arrested, well not officially but it was coming. She jumped back and toppled onto the bed when the door to her luxurious prison suite burst open and was unable to recover in time to greet the three men dressed in Imperial Grey.

‘Miss Pero?’ the shorter man in the lead asked. His rank identified him as a Captain but his ruffled jacket and slouching posture told a different story.

‘You know I am. You guys threw me in here. Now what’s this…’ she started to ask while struggling to get to her feet but not making it all the way up.

‘That’s enough, take her,’ the crumpled captain said before signalling his escort to grab Nikia and her data.

‘Hey, wait a minute! Don’t I get a lawyer or something?’ she struggled feebly against the grasp of the very large man picking her up off the bed.

Apparently the conversation was over unless she wanted to continue to yammer on at the back of the non-captain’s head as he walked out of the room. Her efforts were further silenced when the equally non-sergeant that was dragging her out of the room pulled her out into the empty hall. This hall had had a dozen or more armed guards when she was brought in hours earlier and now the deep purple carpet carried no foot traffic and the light violet doors, like hers, swung lazily on their hinges but welcomed no visitors.

‘Who are you people?’ Nikia asked now that she sure they were not actually Imperial soldiers.

The cool operation of these three worried Nikia. They did not even look twice at the empty hall but instead simply turned away from the guest elevators and walked to the staircase at the north end of the hotel. If they were intending to walk down they were going to have a hard time forcing her and her gear down twenty flights of stairs. They had passed several rooms before the brute urging her on let up enough for her to stand and glance into one of the open rooms and she instantly wished she had not.

Tossed in a heap at the foot of the bed, probably by this mountain of a man behind her, was two of the guards she had seen on her way in. Thankfully she was pushed past the door before the image set in. She had never seen a dead body before. Her curiosity was greatly reduced after that first look and despite passing several more freely swinging doors she did not look in any of them.

‘Stop here,’ the crumpled captain said while they were still two rooms from the end.

Nikia was not going to say anything to the killer while she watched him tap and slide his fingers across the tablet in his hand. These three, maybe more had stormed this Imperial safe house and stolen her without too much trouble. There was no way she was going to piss them off. She laughed at the thought of this being a safe house considering where she was right now, as soon as she did an explosion rocked the building and blew apart the room next to the stairs. The resulting hole was massive, large enough for the back end of a hover transport to float next to the tattered purple carpet. A loading ramp had no trouble extending from the vehicle to the hall.

‘Get in,’ the big guy said with a push once the loading ramp was down.

‘Alright, alright,’ she tried to wave him off since she was getting into the transport behind the leader whether she wanted to or not.

The pilot raced away from the ruined hotel as soon as the fake soldier with Nikia’s data was in, even though the four of them piled in in less than a minute. As the door closed and the people in the cabin strapped into their jump seats along the walls the crumpled captain addressed Nikia, ‘Miss Pero, my name is Greg Ottobre. I am a regional commander for the Earth Liberty Federation.’

‘ELF? Really?’ Nikia smiled despite the situation.

‘An unfortunate acronym,’ Greg tapped his tablet a couple more times seeming more out of frustration than trying to do anything. ‘We are going to use your arrest for star-gazing as the catalyst for our movement. We’ve been preparing for years and this will be the trigger!’ the other two nodded.

Nikia looked around the three bobble heads in Imperial uniforms, ‘Catalyst for what? Preparing for what?’

‘War! Revolution, the Empire is going to be the death of us all but we can stop it here and now. We saw it start with that Star Commander twenty years ago. Ever since, the Empire’s corruption and blinded focus on expansion has left so many people behind. People are starving while we build starships, the climate is heating beyond the tipping point all while we build peninsulas on other planets. We’re taking action tonight!’

‘But you can’t. You don’t understand why they took me,’ Nikia felt a sense of dread flowing over her.

‘Yes we do, the report cited you for inappropriate use of a stellar observatory. When the Empire starts arresting citizens for looking up we have to take action!’

‘Two minutes to drop zone,’ the pilot called back.

‘Very good. Now, Miss Pero, you will be meeting with Benoit Marcelin and Asha Bittner, the leaders of the movement as soon as we land. My men will see that your findings follow you to that meeting. We need to show the world what doing nothing can get you these days under the Imperial foot!’

Nikia just sat, strapped in her seat, for the rest of the flight. She was too stunned to speak up and too certain that if she did she would only get to hear another of this guy’s motivational speeches. She hoped that kidnapping and murder, maybe riots would be as far as these elves would go. Certainly stopping well short of war.

The transport landing was on time according to the pilot but far from the soft cushion touchdown routinely practised by the commercial airlines. Nikia’s file box rocked free of the harness and rattled through the passenger compartment like a Yatze cup emptying. No one inside escaped the rampage of the hard-edged containers with bruises quickly growing to match the deep cuts. When the ground crew opened the rear hatch the scene was an epic disaster.

While everyone was hurt, Nikia was the smallest person in the compartment so had received the fewest injuries. The barrier to the pilot compartment had spared the pilots and left them as the only ones in any condition to talk. Since they had not seen anything, only heard the chaos, Nikia was pulled out and shackled while the medics transported Ottobre and his thugs to a hospital tent in the make-shift compound.

Nikia’s head screamed at her and her shoulder was singing the same tune but she kept it together enough to look around. The transport shuttle had hit and skid through the centre of a worn grass field about five miles from any major city by the look of the horizon. Countless tents in numerous shades of brown huddled under the surrounding forest. This small city must house thousands of these rebels and the conditions were pathetic. She felt a swell of hope that these people were very limited in what they could do.

She did not have long to look around with the way she was being dragged. The ground crew was quick in gathering the battered and bloodied boxes behind her and fell into step behind her own escort though the trees. The residents walked proud between the fabric buildings in their leather armour despite the poverty conditions. She presumed the talkers like Greg Ottobre had filled their heads with so much hot-air rhetoric that these people actually thought they could fight the Empire and win. Maybe they were right but Nikia was pretty sure the Imperial rifles would not even blink at the rebel version of armour

Her escort was rough but efficient, bringing her several rows into