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    The Source
    The Source
    The Source
    Ebook70 pages56 minutes

    The Source

    By Keith Edward English

    ()

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    About this ebook

    As the Earth withers and dies, humanity discovers an alien artifact capable of generating massive amounts of breathable atmosphere, allowing them to migrate to three normally uninhabitable planets similar to their dying home. The Source is placed on a station far off the worlds where its gift can be directed to the three planets. Without cause, the gate to New World I begins to malfunction, threatening a massive evacuation and the possibility of a complete shutdown of all the gates. The engineers aboard the station find that the Source is not a mere machine. It lives just as they do, and it requires sustenance to continue living, to begin propagating an alien species long extinct. For the Source to live, however, people must die. Will the very thing that saved humanity ultimately be its demise?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKeith Edward English
    Release dateJan 19, 2017
    ISBN9781370616268
    The Source
    Author

    Keith Edward English

    Keith Edward English lives in Stockton, CA with his wife, kids, and many pets. When he isn’t crunching numbers at the office or getting his head kicked around while teaching Krav Maga, he's normally playing with his kids, hiking with his wife, spending time with his siblings, gardening, or writing. He enjoys good whiskey but cannot exist long without good beer and a healthy dose of metal.

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      Book preview

      The Source - Keith Edward English

      The Source

      Keith Edward English

      Copyright 2017 Keith Edward English

      Published by Keith Edward English at Smashwords

      Cover art created by Tithi Luadthong

      Edited by William Donahue

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1 – Sacrifice

      Chapter 2 – Awaken

      Chapter 3 – Infect

      Chapter 4 – Discover

      Chapter 5 – Fester

      Chapter 6 – Foundation

      About Keith Edward English

      Other books by Keith Edward English

      Connect with Keith Edward English

      For my wife and kids, to whom I owe all my love.

      Chapter 1

      Sacrifice

      Imixis stood on a platform that sat atop The Core, a space station built around an alien technology. Thousands of brilliant stars and vivid clouds of far off galaxies surrounded her, swirls and slashes of light carving out their spots in the endless black. Regardless of space's endless beauty and Imixis’ never-ending infatuation with it, she couldn't look anywhere other than at the gate to New World I. Fire licked its way along the ring-shaped gate, charring the otherwise silver metal black.

      The simple blue jumpsuit she wore was blackened along the left arm sleeve and the flesh beneath ravaged by fire. Raeny, her second in command, had suggested she be seen by a medic but she refused to rest until the malfunction abated. She barely felt the pain as she stared numbly at the gate. It was her job to understand the issues that arose and to fix them. The solution this time, however, had been eluding her for hours.

      Beneath the steel exterior of the Core sat the Source, the alien technology that had crashed onto her home world years ago. Its arrival seemed a harbinger of hope from a godly source as scientists discovered its ability to generate vast amounts of breathable atmosphere. Overpopulation had caused her world to become bereft of resources and the environment to turn poisonous. Her people had been searching for a new world to inhabit elsewhere in space when the artifact had found her planet.

      Her people used this technology to survive on three normally uninhabitable planets, allowing the air to sustain human, plant, and animal life. The Core had been designed to house the Source in a location only disclosed by the government to those who worked on it. Three gates hovered at the edge of the platform, pulling this necessary element of life from the Core and sending it along their path of rings to the planets. Gate I had begun to overheat hours ago, and without any apparent reason.

      Nekvid's voice crackled in her earpiece, You're not going to find your answer just staring at it, Imixis.

      Then where the hell am I going to find it?

      Come inside. We'll review the scans again and compare them to yesterday's for irregularities.

      On my way, she relented, shaking her head as she turned away from the perplexing issue before her. She doubted the scans would reveal anything. At least the task would occupy her mind for a moment before she finally gave up and ordered the crew to replace the pumps and gate.

      Imixis hustled to the door to the main compound, thick windows above showing a frantic view of her people milling about the control center. The steel door slid into the wall with a soft whir. Disappointment welling in her, she stepped into the structure knowing that she was only delaying the inevitable. She'd tried everything she'd been taught and then some tricks that were beyond the scope of her procedural training. They barely understood the Source when it was working correctly; if it was somehow damaged now, how could she hope to comprehend its inner working enough to mend it?

      Before she could make her way to the control center, Nekvid rounded a corner and caused her to pull up short. They're working on the scan comparisons now, he offered as she visibly tensed, worried at what reason he could have to come out and confront her before she reached the control center. "In the meantime, let's check in on the Source. We haven’t picked up anything yet, but who knows, maybe

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