Activated Read online

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Legal

  Prologue

  Sphinx

  Estarians

  Oggs

  Sark System

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Author Notes - Ell

  Author Notes - Michael

  Social Links Ell

  Social Links - Michael

  Series List

  DEDICATION

  To everyone who ever dreamed of making a dent in the universe.

  — Ellie

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  — Michael

  ACTIVATED

  The Ascension Myth 02

  JIT Beta Readers

  Keith Verret

  Paul Westman

  Alex Wilson

  Kelly ODonnell

  Brent Bakken

  Kimberly Boyer

  James Caplan

  Sherry Foster

  John Raison

  John Findlay

  Joshua Ahles

  If I missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editors

  Lynne Stiegler

  Jen McDonnell

  ACTIVATED (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  This book Copyright © 2017 Ell Leigh Clarke, Michael T. Anderle

  Cover Design by Andrew Dobell http://www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk/

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, 2017

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.

  Prologue

  Those on the QBBS Meredith Reynolds fought for their Queen who became their Empress, and in time, as the battles and the fighting were reduced, and new generations were born to those in space, humans left the Meredith Reynolds and settled on planets both within and outside of the Etheric Empire.

  To the human settlers in the Sark System, the Milky Way became known as the Pan Galaxy – because that was what it resembled from the far edges of the aging Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. What the humans of Earth called Sagittarius had no meaning without that constellation. To those who had lived on the other side of the Annex all their lives, their home was known as the Loop Galaxy on account of the way it circled the Pan.

  The Sark System has four planets around it. Two close to the star Sark, their ‘sun’, and two orbiting in the farthest reaches. In between there is an asteroid belt, with a particularly interesting asteroid known to a tiny population of inhabitants, as Gaitune-67.

  The two inner planets are called Estaria and Ogg. The two outer planets are called Secoria and Teshovia.

  By the time the third generation of human settlers was born in the Sark system, news came down that the Etheric Empire was done with their wars on the Kurtherians and were seeking to become the Etheric Federation.

  This third generation of humans who settled on Estaria had a little girl.

  Her name is Molly.

  Broken in spirit, she didn’t understand that the future is determined not on your mistakes, but on the depth of your spirit to make things happen and the power of those who believed in you.

  This set of stories explain how Molly and those who came to love the broken young woman would challenge the might of the political and powerful and find out the truth…

  Of the Ascension Myth.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Gaitune-67, Safe house, basement workshop

  Brock and Molly stared at the reinforced metal door.

  Molly took a deep breath. “Brock, it’s a door.”

  Brock tapped the door with his wrench. “With demons, or hellz knows what else, behind it!” His voice rose half an octave over the course of just one sentence. Brock had piled boxes up against it after his minor freak out, and they showed telltale signs of having been disturbed: his handprints in the dust, and a slight haphazardness to the stacking.

  “Well, I don’t know what’s behind it, but there are a fuck-ton of boxes in front of it.” She looked over at him. “That’s a lot of boxes for a boogie man to get through.” She thought about it a moment more. “He’d likely get a hernia, I’m thinking.”

  Brock detected a hint of irony in her voice.

  He looked sideways at her. “You… you. Don’t be shittin’ me, girl. This demon, this is for realz, and I don’t want no ancestors up in my face when I’m working down here.”

  His face had paled, and Molly had to stifle a rising laugh.

  Molly couldn’t help but feel that this was akin to a youngster being afraid of what was under its bed.

  A grown man, trained in the arts of science and engineering; one motherfucking badass with a spanner or a soldering iron - but with one big-ass fear of what might be behind an average creepy-looking door that he couldn’t open.

  At some point over the last week, he had also set up an array of temporary lights that had helped him feel more comfortable when he had had to be down there alone.

  Molly studied the dusty boxes as if they were a three-dimensional logic puzzle. Her brain ticked away as Brock waited in anticipation of her verdict.

  She had arrived back at the base hours ago, but having declared that she needed rack time before dealing with whatever “mother-fucking drama is going on in the basement,” he had let her sleep, caffeinate, and then inquire as to what the problem was.

  Joel had agreed: he had made the right call in waiting.

  Now, effectively the next day, she had agreed to haul her “lady-boss ass” - as he called it - down to the basement to assess said drama.

  Molly exhaled again. There was no easy way to do this.

  “Okay, help me…” she told him, stepping up and tugging at one of the middle boxes.

  “Girlfriend, you are signing our death warrant, if my Grindle-senses are right.” Brock attempted to sound playful, but anxiety still laced his voice.

  “The hell is a grindle?” she asked, hands still on the first box.

  Brock stopped a moment, scratching his head with his wrench. “They are kinda small, and have ten legs around a central body. I read about them one time. They sit inside of a small hole they build, and then when t
hey sense something above them, they come out and attack. Wrap them up and eat them.”

  “Sounds like an old spider from my holo-documentaries,” she mumbled.

  Molly shifted one of the middle boxes slightly, but found that they were too damned heavy to move as one stack.

  Brock moved in to lift the top one down.

  “If we have ancestors and demon-shit coming after us, it’s on you.” He eyed her knowingly, like a witch doctor who had seen the future.

  He carried the first box over to a space in the center of the workshop, as he had done only a matter of days ago.

  Paige and Joel emerged from the stairwell, catching some of the conversation. Paige remained motionless, an observer of the unfolding events.

  Joel pitched in with lifting the boxes. “Whatcha mean demons?” he asked, curious as to what he’d missed. “I didn’t think Ms. Molly believed in ghosts, and ghouls, and all that kind of thing…”

  He caught her eye and made a face at her, as he turned with a box.

  She returned to the stack to pick up another one, and catching the look he gave her, rolled her eyes back at him.

  Brock dropped a box out of the way. “No, I’m talking about those dimensional-traveling bastards. I get a feeling like I’m being watched around that door, and I just know there is something up with that shit.”

  Brock stopped and leaned to the left. He balanced on one leg and shook the other, then resumed walking.

  Joel opened his mouth to give Brock shit, but Paige piped up, interrupting him. “Yeah, that could be true,” she agreed.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and all turned to look at her.

  Molly looked like she wanted to beat a hole in the wall if Paige was about to add to Brock’s delusion. “What are you talking about?” she asked in her most practical, even keeled voice.

  “Demons,” Paige answered, just as seriously. ”Dimensional Etheric Mediums Of the Next Sector,” she answered as she pointed towards the door.

  Molly replied, “You mean, evil things like ghosts and spirits and -”

  Paige shook her head, “No. You’re thinking of the ancient human myths, I think,” she explained. “Although those stories were thought to have stemmed from the same phenomenon as Estarian Dimensional Walkers.”

  Joel looked confused. He carefully placed a box down next to the new pile of boxes they’d been making. He stopped to listen to Paige until he felt the sudden and sharp pain of Molly’s elbow in his ribs. He swiped at her head, which she ducked easily, and he went back to the boxes.

  Brock noticed that the disarray was making his otherwise tidy workshop look like a dumping ground again.

  Molly wasn’t done debunking. “Are you fucking with me?” she asked, now looking at Paige, eyes narrowed.

  Paige shook her head playfully, smiling slightly at the reaction of the three humans around her.

  Joel jumped in before Molly could quiz Paige. “So what are these dimensional traveling things?” He casually wiped the sweat off his forehead with his forearm. That last box had been a challenge.

  “They’re called dimensional travelers, locally; or DEMONS officially. They’re ascended persons who can travel in and out of neighboring dimensions,” Paige explained.

  “I didn’t think you were into all that?” Molly probed, thinking back to their conversation back when they were on Estaria.

  Paige had made it very clear that even though she was descended from a very spiritually powerful line, she was in no way interested in continuing with the family traditions.

  Of course, this heart-to-heart had taken place over a few too many beers, so it was entirely possible Molly had misunderstood.

  “I’m not,” she agreed, “but this part is well-known and scientifically documented. It’s the bit about what you need to do to ascend that I’m just not into…”

  Brock, absently wiping the dust off his hands with a rag he’d pulled out of his overalls pocket, took a step closer to the circle of intrigued crew that had formed around Paige. “You mean… you… you know how to ascend?”

  Paige pursed her lips, “Yeah. I mean, my grandmother taught me some stuff. But I think it’s mostly a load of quack-a-doodle. Plus, I’m not interested in spending my life meditating, waiting for death. That’s why I dropped it as soon as I was allowed to. But it’s totally doable.”

  Unknown Location

  A man smoking a cigar, wearing civilian clothing in a room full of military personnel, leaned in on his holo screen, carefully watching the unfolding of something that may just tip the scales in world events a few systems away… or a lot. He always was annoyed to have to place these damned locations. A perfect ring of smoke wafted up past his head from his most recent drag of the coveted Earth-product.

  An audio-feed hailed him. “Sir, the generals are ready for your input, if you’d care to join them.”

  The room hummed with quiet activity, holo feeds pulling intel from all over the galaxy. The outside world thought there was peace, but one man knew otherwise. He was waiting. Preparing. Playing the political cards, as he knew he had to, but all the while biding his time until the human race needed defending again.

  The man took another draw on his cigar. “In a minute, ADAM. This is getting damn funny.” He chuckled away gently to himself, nodding politely to an ensign who recognized him while he hurried passed the console he was occupying.

  “Very well, Sir,” ADAM replied. “I’ll let them know you’ll be a little while longer.”

  “Thank you, ADAM.” The man watched the holo feed in anticipation. “I’m just waiting to see how long it’s going to take Ms. Bates to try the door handle.”

  There was a slight pause in the audio feed.

  A moment later the audio feed came back online and ADAM spoke. “I calculate, based on her behavior observed thus far, using a decision heuristic designed for human cognitive abilities, she is 4 seconds away, within a tolerance of zero point three seconds.”

  The cigar-smoking man took another drag and started to smile, as if challenged by a young buck. “Care to put a wager on that?” he asked, seeing if he could needle the AI into putting his money where his heuristic was.

  ADAM didn’t hesitate. “100 credits.”

  “Done,” the man said. “I think longer. And if I win, it’s coming out of your allowance. You’re not to just adjust the figures in my account. You hear me?”

  “I hear, General,” ADAM agreed in an even tone. “I understand the psychology of betting. There has to be a downside disincentive for me for this to be a true game.”

  The man grunted and waved his cigar.

  Gaitune-67, Safe house, basement workshop

  Molly glanced over at Brock who was taking the information Paige gave him seriously.

  Brock looked impressed. “Wow. I would have loved to have been brought up with that kind of training.”

  He turned to Molly feeling the weight of her questioning stare between his shoulder blades. “It’s the thought that through a series of training exercises, one can attune themselves to slipping through to different dimensions, or being present everywhere, or acquiring knowledge to move information through the realms. It’s all proven and documented, as Paige says, but the number of people who are capable of doing it these days… well.” He looked down, and sighed. “There aren’t many.”

  Joel stood frozen to the spot, watching the interaction, his mouth slightly open. “I feel like someone has just told me that vampires and werewolves are real.”

  Molly started to say something, and then caught herself.