The Engineer's Escape: The Swallowtail Voyages, Book 1 Read online

  The Engineer's Escape: The Swallowtail Voyages, Book 1

  By

  Trip Ellington

  Copyright © 2016 by Trip Ellington

  Cover by CoverCharm.com. The Cover Incorporates Images by Euderion (Euderion.DeviantArt.com) and Inadesign-Stock (inadesign-stock.deviantart.com)

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

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

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  The Engineer's Escape: The Swallowtail Voyages, Book 1

  Prologue

  Ergan XI was an icy planet rich in frozen deutritium deposits. Skye rappelled along the side of Sector B’s drilling station as hail beat down on her from the storm system that covered the entire planet.

  “Mal? What’s my status?”

  “Fifty-six percent.” Mal’s voice chirped in his sophisticated British accent. “We still have thirty minutes left.”

  “At least we’re still in range of the ship,” Skye said.

  “Yes, but I’m going to have to direct your attention to the entity that appears to be climbing up the wall.” Skye looked away from the open mechanical panel that she was working on. About thirty meters below her, she spotted a hulking figure with fur as thick and white as a polar bear from earth. It scaled the steep wall, unfazed by the hailstone beating against its thick pelt.

  “How is it doing that?” she asked Mal.

  “It’s a Brukyun,” Mal answered. “It is similar to the Earth creature known as the Yeti.”

  “I thought those were a myth.”

  “Not on Ergan XI,” Mal replied brightly. He loved providing information on the various peoples and wildlife that they came in contact with. “Its claws are most likely able to punch holes into the alloy plating of this power station. They are uncommonly long and sharp—talons, to be precise. Interesting fact—it lives on the flesh of humans and Shokovan, who are the original inhabitants of Ergan XI.”

  “So you’re saying that it thinks I’m food.”

  “Well, yes…”

  “Nebulae,” she cursed, trying to complete the repairs faster. She had to get the system back online before the nightfrost, or the colony that roughed it out on the arctic planet would be at risk of hypothermia, and potentially end up freezing to death. The humans here were not welcomed by the native population—otherwise; they would not have been in this fix. It seemed to Skye, however, that humans lived only to spread out over the universe, no matter how inconvenient or inhospitable.

  “Hurry Skye!” Mal said. Skye turned to look, and wished that she hadn’t. She turned back to her work quickly as the metal side of the power grid shook with the force of the Brukyun climbing up the side.

  The Brukyun was immense, with a blunt head and beady eyes. Its teeth were ground down to spiny stumps and the skin of its head, hands, and feet had been a deep charcoal gray color. The rest of its body was covered in white, wooly fur. It growled and raised a large, flat beefy hand with long, yellow talons, slamming into her body, just as she turned the system into “on” mode. Skye screamed as her pain receptors burned like molten iron through her veins. As her body crumpled, her vision faded while her consciousness uploaded to the Swallowtail network in a haze of ones and zeroes. Though she’d died several times since the Swallowtail program’s inception, there was always a nagging sensation at the back of her mind that maybe this time she wouldn’t come back.

  Chapter One

  Fori Research Colony, Moon of Celaeno IV

  The dun-colored soil of Celaeno IV’s moon crunched beneath the large, doughnut-like wheels of the rover, which bounced over the rocky, uneven surface. The rover was made of a bright white metal that was iridescent against the surface of the moon. Emblazoned across the side in neat script it read: PROPERTY OF FORI RESEARCH FACILITY AND COLONY. The bright blue gas giant, Celaeno IV loomed largely over the horizon, like a bite taken out of the sky, which was studded with stars like diamonds dropped onto a bed of stark black velvet. Celaeno IV’s moon had been inhabited by humans for nearing on five years, when the Fori Research Colony had been founded. Detailed exploration on the moon itself had only begun in the past eight months, as the colony had only recently been completed. The view was breathtaking, but the scientists were too focused on the mundanity of their task: to repair a power station that had suddenly gone offline.

  “How much farther, Gibbs?” Jada asked, navigating the rover around a large boulder. She was an electrician; her area of expertise in the colony was entirely support-based. Her white space suit covered everything but her face, which had lovely, almond-shaped eyes, and a light dusting of freckles. She had a vast mass of curly hair that the cap of her suit held in check. She drove the rover, expertly navigating the rough terrain of the moon.

  “Few miles,” Gibbs responded. He had deep blue eyes and high, prominent cheekbones. He was a mechanical engineer, sent on this mission to install updates on the power station’s system in order to bring it up to speed with Fori’s new requirements. He checked his Dynatab. An augmented reality map appeared in his vision, highlighting an area just over the ridge where the power station had gone offline. As they drew closer, it chimed loudly, proclaiming in a smooth, feminine voice:

  “Turn north in ten meters.”

  They passed small pools of a viscous, metallic liquid. It had a dark slate color, a grey that was almost black, and was common only on the moon of Celaeno IV.

  “Seems to be more of the polyatomic ion in this region,” Jada said, squinting a little.

  “Yeah. There’s a large lake of it by the power station,” Gibbs went to scratch his nose, forgetting that he had the helmet of his space suit on. His finger bounced off of the clear bubble of his helmet. “The polyatomic ion carries the smallest hint of an energy signature, so that’s what we think is causing this particular power station to malfunction, possibly due to the tidal forces from Celaeno IV.”

  “What is it, exactly?” Jada asked. “The polyatomic ion?”

  “You do know who you’re talking to, right? I mean, I could talk about this stuff for hours. It’s unbelievable stuff,” Gibbs said, raising an eyebrow. Jada smiled.

  “Try to give me the five minute, explain-it-like-I’m-not-a-master-chemist answer,” Jada said. Gibbs shrugged.

  “Did they teach you about the periodic table at Spacewing Academy?”

  “Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

  “Ugh or not, this part is critical. It’s why this moon was chosen for the research colony.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll pay attention.” Jada rolled her eyes.

  “Excellent,” Gibbs grinned. “Well, it all boils down to this. This polyatomic ion is made up of elements we haven’t even been able to synthesize yet, even in small quantities. And not only does this ion exist, it is extremely stable. Which is remarkable!”

  “But what does it do?” Jada asked. “I mean, wha
t is the purpose, do you think?”

  “We aren’t yet sure of its purpose…it appears nowhere else in the universe, as far as we know. It exhibits properties that are completely unexpected, like its reaction to heat as low as that of human touch. I’ve been doing some experimenting with it on the side—you should just see what it does when it is in the presence of hydrogen. The organic chemists haven’t even gotten to that point yet in their research. I mean, the research potential is significant—”

  “You’re such a nerd,” Jada said. “I can’t believe you’re doing your own side-experiments.”

  “You like it when I talk nerdy,” Gibbs replied jokingly. “Anyway, these experiments are necessary. It’s how I came up with the upgrades for the power station. It can’t possibly function properly if it’s being exposed to the polyatomic ion in such a large quantity.”

  Jada shook her head with a breathy laugh. The Dynatab spoke again.

  “You are nearing your destination.”

  “So how did so much of it get here?” Jada asked.

  “That’s the big question. It couldn’t possibly have formed through natural processes, at least none that we’ve seen. Which leaves the possibility that it was manufactured by a previous race.”

  “Ancient aliens?” She cocked an eyebrow as she glanced over at Gibbs.

  “Don’t look at me like I’m insane,” Gibbs replied. “I believe with enough expeditions on this planet, we’ll find evidence of the individuals who made all of this ion and what they used it for.”

  “Maybe they used it as a fuel of some sort?”

  “Potentially. Although, it does change form at a low temp, so they would require astronomical amounts to power things.” Gibbs tapped his helmet thoughtfully.

  “Nearing your destination,” the Dynatab chirped.

  “Should be on the left,” Gibbs said, and Jada began aiming the rover in the direction of the power station that was now visible in the distance. It sat beside a large lake, entirely of the slate-colored metallic liquid that was the polyatomic ion. It shimmered with a fell light, illumined by the nearest nightside star, some seventeen lightyears away. Jada’s breath caught.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  “Quite.”

  Jada pulled the rover up to the power station, and the two got out, stretching. Jada slung her tool kit over her shoulder. It was in a black duffle bag that clanked when she moved. Gibbs removed a bag that read “SAMPLE COLLECTION KIT.”

  “What is that?” Jada asked, glancing at the bag.

  “I thought I’d collect some samples from the lake,” Gibbs said. “I want to see if it’s different from the samples collected from the sources that are nearer to Fori.” He perched his sample-collection kit over his own shoulder.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jada said. “We’re here on a repair job—not a sample collection run for your chemistry hobby.”

  “It’s not a hobby,” Gibbs replied, sounding injured. “It’s in the name of science.”

  “Whatever.” Jada rolled her eyes and sighed. They began to walk in the direction of the power station, which was located about three meters from the edge of the lake. Large piles of round boulders that were about two meters in length and one meter in width blocked their way. They navigated in between the scree as they walked over to the lake.

  “Give me a hand with this collection probe.” Gibbs asked as he opened a sample container.

  “Gee, sure. It’s not like we have a pressing energy outage or anything.” Jada knelt down and stumbled as she reached for the probe, accidently dipping her hand into the liquid. The viscous material covered her glove.

  “That’s not good,” Gibbs said. “You might want to swap out your glove in the station; this stuff’s highly corrosive.”

  “Just what I needed,” Jada grumbled, standing up. She shook her hand to rid it of the liquid, and could see where the ion was already corroding the fabric. “Ugh! Gross.” Large splatters of the liquid landed on a large boulder.

  “Sorry, Jada,” Gibbs groaned. Jada shrugged, picking up her toolkit to head to the power station in order to begin repairs while Gibbs collected samples from the lake and the soil around it. There was a sharp cracking sound, and she turned to Gibbs.

  “What was that?” They both looked down at the massive boulder that had been hit by the spray from Jada’s glove. The boulder began rocking back and forth, picking up in speed. Suddenly, a large crack formed in it, running down its full length.

  Something inside struck at the crack from the inside, forcing the crack to grow wider. What Jada and Gibbs had believed to be a boulder was a hollow casing. Before Jada or Gibbs could move from their shock, a creature pulled its way out of the crack.

  The alien being had a triangular, carapaced head on a long body with an arched, articulated spine, and a series of four small arms sticking out along the sides of the abdomen, two long arms below them that stuck out from the stomach region, and a small, rounded pelvis with six segmented legs all covered in a brittle exoskeleton.

  It stood to its full height of roughly two meters, as though stretching, before it jerked its head to survey its surroundings. Seeing Jada and Gibbs, it cocked its head to the side, studying them. It made a clicking sound, gesturing with its arms as though it were communicating with them. Ignoring them, it skittered over to the ion lake, dipping its two longest arms in it for a brief second, before it scurried over to the other large rocks in the pile that it hatched from.

  “They’re…they’re chrysalises,” Gibbs whispered as the bug-like being halted before the pile of boulders. It moved its head in their direction as Gibbs spoke, pausing for a moment before it turned back to the pile. Working quickly, it rolled several of the other chrysalises into the liquid, and they began to open, with cracking and ripping sounds. The two humans remained where they were, frozen in awe.

  The bug-like forms seemed to be talking amongst each other in a series of clicks, when they rushed toward the humans. They surrounded them, making frantic clicking noises and gesticulating with their many arms.

  “Gibbs,” Jada said. “What are they doing?” One of the creatures reached forward, touching Jada’s helmet, and she squeaked in fear.

  “Don’t worry,” Gibbs replied, unholstering his emergency plasma blaster. He held it up toward the creature closest to him. As the one that touched Jada’s helmet began tapping on it, she screamed in fright. “Don’t you touch her!”

  “Gibbs!” Jada yelled. The creatures were becoming riled as the two humans reacted in fear. Gibbs pointed his plasma blaster at the being that had tapped on Jada’s helmet.

  “Don’t worry, I adjusted my plasma blaster,” Gibb said as he aimed the weapon. As it reached out again, he pulled the trigger, emitting a bright white beam. The creature hissed in pain as it was incinerated.

  The other creatures made sudden, rapid staccato clicking noises, and then hissed, all of them racing toward Gibbs. He attempted to aim his plasma blaster, but it had overheated. It clicked as he pulled the trigger uselessly. The creatures grabbed Gibbs, each holding a limb, pulling in opposite directions as Gibbs screamed.

  “Run, Jada!” She ran, hearing the loud and sickening sound of limbs popping from their sockets. Gibbs cried out in pain. Jada could hear the hissing, skittering, and clicking sounds of the beings behind her. She halted for a moment, caught between making for the rover, and heading for the power station, where there was a distress beacon. Choosing the power station, she raced over to it, her heart hammering against the wall of her sternum.

  The power station was dome-shaped, like a water-droplet, constructed of bright white polymer sheeting. It had solar panels for generating electricity balanced on the roof like a table top. Jada forced the door open, depressurizing the inside, and slid the emergency lock in place behind her.

  She waited in silence for several moments and she blinked away the tears in her eyes. Gibbs was gone.

  Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door, denting it.
The creatures threw their large, chitinous bodies up against the structure, leaving huge indentations in the pliable door. The round door bent out of its framing and Jada could see the creatures through the cracks.

  Jada touched the control panel. It was inactive. She rushed to the station’s Communication Module and attached her own suit’s battery as a power source. It engaged. Her glove had begun to fall apart, the polyatomic ion having eaten through the fabric entirely and she looked with panicked eyes at the unrecognizable doorway. The only thing holding the creatures back was the support structure for the emergency lock. She felt her suit depressurize as she keyed in the emergency code on the screen— 006, or unfriendly lifeforms. She screamed as the door thrust inward, flying past her as she was rushed by the creatures.

  Chapter Two

  Skye woke up suddenly, her whole consciousness flooding into its new incarnation as it was printed out by the Swallowtail’s Transmetric Additive Synthesizer, or T.A.S. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs, and feeling the newness of her body. The last memory that she had was of her bones and organs getting crushed by the Brukyun. She rubbed her hands over her unbroken ribs and recalled the creature’s distant stare as it mangled her body like a ragdoll. Shaking off the dark thoughts of her demise, she sat up.

  The Swallowtail network was made up of a series of crewless, long-range ships designed as a mechanical support system that could be directed to colonies and ships in need by the Unified Planetary Council. Onboard each ship was a T.A.S. with the capacity to print out a new instance of Skye, a highly-skilled engineer-class consciousness imprinted on a female body. With Ergan XI, she had been lucky enough to have been in range of her own ship’s Communication Module so that she could upload her memories from that instance. Because of it, the Council had been able to inform the colony on Ergan XI that the repairs had been completed for now, but that there was a hostile Brukyun responsible for taking out its drilling stations.